Ukrainian drone attacks injure 8 Russians and spark fire at fuel depot
Ukranian drone strikes inside Russia in the early hours of Thursday caused a massive fire at a fuel depot and injured at least eight people, Moscow said.
Half a dozen drones struck a fuel facility in Krasnodar and damaged storage tanks, the region’s administration said.
“Several tanks were damaged,” the administration said on its Telegram channel, adding that no one was injured.
It was the second Ukranian attack on the oil depot in a week, the Russian state media reported. The previous strike occurred on 2 May.
In a separate attack on Thursday, Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Belgorod, injuring at least eight people and damaged scores of residential buildings and cars, the region’s governor said. Belgorod borders Ukraine in the southwest.
The injured Russians include an 11-year-old girl who was taken to a hospital, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor, said.
The attack also damaged 34 flats in 19 apartment buildings and at least three dozen cars in the city.
The Russian defence ministry said its military downed several Ukrainian drones and rockets over Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions.
While Kyiv hasn’t commented on the latest attacks inside Russian territory, it has often declared that striking military, energy and transport infrastructure inside the neighbouring country was a legitimate response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has denounced attacks on its civilian infrastructure as terrorism.
Thursday’s was the second Ukranian attack on Belgorod. The previous attack on Monday killed at least seven people and injured 35 near the village of Beryozovka.
Governor Gladkov said that Ukranian drones had struck two vans carrying employees of a nearby factory and a passenger vehicle. Belgorod government officials said that the vehicles belonged to a meat production facility.
Ukranian drone attacks on energy facilities inside Russia have grown more frequent in recent months as Russian troops have intensified their offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials have said the attacks are intended to undermine Russia’s war effort and as retaliation for Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
