Ukraine strikes Russia's largest oil refinery in its latest drone attack

As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to escalate, reports are emerging that a Ukrainian drone has crashed into one of Russia’s largest oil-refining complexes. The strike sparked a massive fire but caused minor damage in the Russian facilities.

According to AFP, the complex belongs to the Russian oil company Bashneft and lies on the outskirts of the central Russian city of Ufa, about 870 miles (1,400km) from the frontline in Ukraine. Videos of the incident that are circulating online show a drone drifting towards the facility on Saturday before exploding in a ball of flames. The strike immediately sent a cloud of smoke into the sky.

“Today, Bashneft’s facility was subjected to a terrorist attack by aircraft-type drones,” the head of Russia’s Bashkortostan region, Radiy Khabirov, said on Telegram. He mentioned that one of the drones crashed into the plant, while another was shot down.

“There were no casualties or injuries. The production site sustained minor damage, and a fire broke out, which is currently being extinguished,” he added.

Ukraine ramps up its defence

According to AFP, a source in Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency claimed responsibility for the attack. Since the launch of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine has responded with attacks on Russian refineries in an attempt to curb the Kremlin’s ability to fund the conflict.

Over the summer, a wave of Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries affected the processing capacity at several key sites and pushed up prices at the fuel pump.

The Kremlin described Bashneft’s Ufa refining complex in 2016 as “one of the largest in the country”, saying it produced more than 150 types of oil products.

The Ukrainian attack came on the same day the country said it needed at least $120 billion next year to fight Russia’s invasion, and would need a similar amount to maintain its military, even if the war ended. It is pertinent to note that the war-torn country already spends around a third of its entire economic output on defence and relies on tens of billions of dollars of financial assistance from its Western allies to keep its economy afloat.

With inputs from AFP.