Oil depots in Russia and Ukraine on fire, warring nations blame drone attacks

Oil depots in both Ukraine and Russia caught fire on Wednesday as the drone war between the two countries targeting infrastructure escalated ahead of the planned spring counter-offensive of Kyiv.

Thousands of firefighters tried to control the huge fire at an oil terminal on the Russian side for which Moscow blamed a Ukrainian drone attack.

Meanwhile, a fuel depot in the central city of Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine also caught fire after a suspected Russian drone strike.

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Across Ukraine, a drone hit an administrative building in the southern Dnipropetrovsk region igniting a fire. Ukraine claimed to have shot down around 21 of 26 Iranian-made drones.

Long-range strikes are being launched by the two sides since last week in anticipation of the upcoming counteroffensive of Ukraine, which is expected to mark the most decisive phases of the ongoing war.

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A wave of missiles was fired by Russia last Friday, which included one that killed 23 civilians sleeping in an apartment building in Uman, a city which lies hundreds of miles from the front.

A suspected Ukrainian drone strike on Saturday puta Russian oil terminal on fire in occupied Crimea. Dozens of homes as well as one industrial enterprise werehit by Russia in the Dnipropetrovsk region on Monday which Kyiv did not identify. Meanwhile, freight trains were derailed in blasts that took place on the last two days in a row in Russia’s Bryansk region near border with Ukraine.

Moscow claims military targets have been struck by its long-range attacks though no evidence has been produced by it to support this.

No comments were made by Kyiv on incidents in occupied Crimea or Russia but it said that destroying infrastructure which supports the Russian military is part of Ukraine's preparation for its planned ground assault.

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Black smoke and flames billowed over big tanks which had red warnings of “Flammable” in videos shared by Russian social media.

“The fire has been classified as the highest rank of difficulty,” said Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of the Krasnodar region on the Telegram messaging app, further stating that there were no casualties.

Citing emergency services, Russia’s TASS news agency said that the facility caught fire due to the drone strike. Moscow also blamed another drone for a huge fire caused in Crimea, in Sevastopol, which is the naval base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

(With inputs from agencies)

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