Ukrainian drones have struck a Russian oil refinery hundreds of kilometers from the border with Ukraine, in another series of operations deep inside Russian territory aimed at disrupting Russia's oil industry.
The overnight attacks on the facility in the central Saratov region on May 31 — the second since March — do not appear to have caused any casualties.
But a large fire and thick black smoke were reported at the factory belonging to state oil company Rosneft.
The Ukrainian military said its drones had targeted the Saratov refinery, along with several other locations across Russia.
Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said "civilian infrastructure" was hit, but did not specify exactly what was damaged.
Since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has significantly intensified its drone campaign against oil and gas facilities across Russia.
This effort appears to be aimed at limiting Russia's ability to export hydrocarbons and provide revenue to finance its war in Ukraine.
Russia has benefited from the rise in global energy prices caused by the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Ukraine's efforts, which have also targeted pipelines and storage facilities, have forced the shutdown or reduction of production at almost all of Russia's major oil refineries in central Russia, significantly reducing Russian oil output, according to Reuters estimates.
The head of the Russian nuclear energy organization Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, published a statement on May 30 claiming that a Ukrainian drone had exploded near the turbine building of one of the six nuclear reactors at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces dismissed the claim as part of a Russian disinformation campaign aimed at diverting attention from its war crimes and losses on the ground.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is the largest nuclear facility in Europe, but it has been restricted since 2022, when the Russian military occupied part of the region and the plant itself, forcing local staff to manage it under their control.
Kiev has accused Russia of sabotaging the plant on several occasions, describing this as an attempt to portray Ukraine as an irresponsible international actor.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has mediated between the parties to ensure the safety of the plant.
It said it had recorded a reported drone attack, without attributing it to either Ukraine or Russia, and stressed that "this would be the first drone attack within the perimeter of the ZNPP plant since April 2024."/Radio Free Europe
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