Drone sets oil refinery on fire in Russia’s Bashkortostan in first such case

Authorities in Russia'sBashkortostan said on Thursday (May 9) that a drone attacked an oil refinery in Bashkortostan, the first such reported casein the region since the Ukraine war began in late February 2022.

According to a report by The Moscow Times,Bashkortostan's headRadiyKhabirovsaidthat the drone attacked the industrial zone ofSalavat city at 1 pm local time, following which there was smoke at one of the installations ofGazprom Neftekhim Salavat (the oil refinery).

Khabirov said thatGazprom Neftekhim Salavat was operating asnormaldespite the attack,addingthatemergency services and law enforcement agencies were at the scene. Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat is Russia's 10th largest oil refinerywitha capacity of 10 million metric tonnes of oil per year.

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Itis not yet knownwherethe drone came from, the report said.

Was Ukraine behind the attack?

However, an official from Ukraine’s special servicestold The New York Times on Thursday that Kyiv was behind the attack. The official, who chose to remain anonymous, added that Ukraine was also behindtwo other drone strikes overnight that hit oil depots in Russia’s Krasnodar region.

Bashkortostanis locatedaround1,500 kilometres from the border with Ukraine.

/4. The distance of 1300km from the frontline makes an attack on Salavat oil refinery the farthest Ukrainian drone attack on Russian targets. The previous record holder was an attack on Nizhnekamsk oil refinery and Shahed factory, 1100-1150km https://t.co/eCmTvh8pa8 — Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) May 9, 2024

Thursday's attack came as droneattacks on energy facilities inside Russia's territory have become more frequent in the past few months. Ukraine has said that while its attacks do not target civilians, destroying Russia's military, transport and energy infrastructure undermines Moscow's overall war efforts.

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Meanwhile, on Friday, aUkrainedroneattack set an oil refinery in Russia's Kaluga region on fire, RIA state news agency reported on Fridaycitingemergency services. As per the report,three containers with diesel fuel and one with fuel oilwere consumedby the fire at the Pervyi Zavod refinery.

Kaluga's GovernorVladislav Shapsha saidthatthere were no casualties in the attack,adding,the fire was promptly extinguished.

(With inputs from agencies)