Two Fuel Depots Ablaze Following Drone Attacks Across 9 Russian Regions

Two Russian fuel depots were targeted in separate drone attacks early morning Tuesday, March 12, regional governors said, as Ukraine launched a barrage of strikes across multiple regions of Russia.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 25 Ukrainian drones were destroyed or intercepted across nine regions, including Moscow, Leningrad, Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk, Tula, and Oryol. The attacks also targeted the Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh regions.

Attacks caused fires at the facilities, located hundreds of kilometers apart in the towns of Kstovo and Oryol.

In Kstovo, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) east of Moscow, a fuel and energy complex was attacked by drones, according to the regional governor Gleb Nikitin. Although the fire engulfed an oil refining plant, initial assessments indicated no casualties.

“Now the special services are working on the spot, using all the necessary forces and means to localize the fire at one of the oil refining installations,” Gleb Nikitin said on Telegram.

According to the Baza telegram channel, the Lukoil oil depot was reportedly the site of the blaze. Following the incident, Lukoil temporarily halted operations at the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez facility, deploying a fire train to combat the flames.

Earlier in Oryol, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the Ukrainian border, a drone crashed into a fuel depot and ignited a fire, according to the region's governor. No injuries were reported, with evacuations undertaken as a precautionary measure.

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“A fuel and energy complex facility was attacked. Special services are working on the spot to contain the fire. There were no casualties,” Andrey Klychkov wrote on the messaging app Telegram. 

Drone strikes also disrupted power supplies in seven villages in the Belgorod region, with damage inflicted on a power line in Novaya Tavolzhanka. Shebekino residents experienced shattered windows in apartment buildings due to a drone crash.

The Russian Ministry of Defense revealed that one Tochka-U missile and eight shells from the RM-70 Vampire multiple-launch rocket system were neutralized by air defense forces in the Belgorod region.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed the interception of a drone in Moscow's Ramenskoye city district, with no reported injuries or property damage.

Local authorities in Leningrad, Bryansk, and Voronezh reported no casualties or damages.

The governor of the Kursk region, also close to the Ukrainian border, announced that two Ukrainian drones had been shot down by Russian defense forces.

Since the start of the war in February 2022, the Ukrainian army has succeeded in carrying out drone attacks further and further inside Russian territory. 

On Saturday, Russia claimed to have destroyed 47 Ukrainian drones overnight, mainly in the region of Rostov-on-Don, bordering Ukraine, an attack that may have targeted an aircraft factory among other targets.