A Russian oil refinery in Samara went up in flames as a result of a drone attack carried out by Ukraine on Saturday, March 16.
Knewz.com has learned that firefighters were able to douse the blazes after several hours.
The drone attack on Samara is the latest example of the long-range capabilities of Ukrainian drones, as Volodymyr Zelensky's forces carry out deep strikes on the fuel and energy infrastructure of Russia.
The Syzran oil refinery, located nearly 530 miles southeast of Moscow in the Samara region, has the capacity to process 8.5 million metric tons of crude oil a year, or 170,000 barrels per day, making it a major facility in the Russian fuel and energy sector.
The huge fire caused at the Syzran oil refinery burned for hours before firefighters were able to bring it under control and extinguish it completely.
A Reuters news agency source based in Ukraine stated that the intelligence unit of the Security Service of Ukraine had carried out strikes on three oil refineries in Samara belonging to the Rosneft Oil Company, namely, the Syzran, Novokuibyshevsky, and Kuibyshevsky refineries.
"The SBU continues to implement its strategy to undermine the economic potential of the Russian Federation, which allows it to wage war in Ukraine," the source said, according to Reuters.
Samara Governor Dmitry Azarov mentioned the drone strikes on Syzran and Novokuibyshevsky on his Telegram channel, according to Newsweek, and mentioned the huge fire that broke out.
He further mentioned that the workers at both plants had been evacuated and that there were no casualties, according to The Times of India. Reuters reported Azarov as claiming that the Russian forces had thwarted the attack on the Novokuibyshevsky oil refinery.
It is worth noting that the Novokuibyshevsky refinery is located around 500 miles from the nearest Ukraine-controlled territory.
Although the Security Service of Ukraine claimed that the drone strike on Samara hit the Kuibyshevsky oil refinery, none of the Russian media outlets have reported so.
President Zelensky has not directly commented on Saturday's drone strike but thanked his armed forces, security service, and main intelligence directorate "for the new Ukrainian long-range capabilities" during his nightly video address to the nation.
He also stated that recent weeks have made it clear that Ukraine can use its weapons to exploit the vulnerabilities in the Russian "war machine" and that "What our own drones can do is truly a long-range Ukrainian capability," according to Reuters.
While Russia is busy conducting the 2024 Presidential elections, Ukraine has been relentlessly carrying out attacks all over the nation, a move that the Kremlin has dubbed as an attempt to disrupt the voting process.
The Foreign Ministry of Russia has stated that Ukraine has "intensified its terrorist activities" on the second day of the elections, claiming that Volodymyr Zelensky's forces were trying to actively disrupt the voting process.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also claimed that Ukraine reportedly dropped artillery shells on a voting booth in the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region.
A local election official in the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar reported to the state-run news agency TASS that an explosive device landed near a polling station in a village about 12 miles east of the city. However, the claims have not been verified, according to another Reuters report.
The latest in the long list of recent attacks is an overnight strike carried out by Ukraine on another oil refinery, this time in the southern Krasnodar region of Russia, on Sunday, March 17.
The Defense Ministry of Russia has not yet commented on the overnight attack but mentioned in an update that Russian air defenses intercepted 17 Ukrainian drones in Krasnodar on Sunday, according to Newsweek.
Reuters recently reported that the NORSI refinery in Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow, which belongs to the Russian multinational energy corporation Lukoil, was hit by a Ukrainian drone strike on Tuesday, March 12.
On Wednesday, Rosneft's Ryazan oil refinery went up in flames following another Ukrainian drone strike.
"Ryazan has stopped its main crude distillation unit (CDU) AVT-6 with a capacity of 170,00 barrels of crude per day (47.5% of the plant's total crude intake capacity) and a smaller CDU AVT-4 capable of refining about 84,000 barrels of crude per day (23.4% of the plant's total intake capacity)," Reuters reported, citing an industry source.
