Russia. Attack near Smolensk. Four explosions and destroyed oil bases

On the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, “two fuel and lubricant storage and pumping bases in the towns of Yartsevo and Razdorovo in the Smolensk Oblast in Russia were destroyed,” said an interlocutor of the Ukraińska Pravda portal.

According to the source of the NV portal, 26,000 cubic meters of fuel were stored in bases belonging to the Rosneft concern. After powerful explosions, fires broke out and plant employees were evacuated.

The Ukraińska Pravda portal published a recording from social networks showing a huge column of fire. In the recording, one of the callers said that at least four explosions were heard.

“The Security Service of Ukraine continues to effectively destroy the military infrastructure and logistics that power the Russian army in Ukraine. These facilities are and will remain our completely justified goals,” the RBK-Ukraina portal's interlocutor explained.

READ: Strikes on three Rosneft plants. “The season of attacks on Russian refineries continues”

On Wednesday morning, the Governor of the Smolensk Oblast, Vasily Anokhin, announced that a fire had broken out at energy plants in the Smolensk Oblast following an attack by Ukrainian drones. According to him, “as a result of a hostile attack” on “civilian fuel and energy facilities”, fires broke out in the Smolensk and Yartsiv districts (districts). In the next entry, the official posted photos of services fighting the fire and said that “there were no victims or injured.”

“Dear residents of Smolensk, please remain vigilant! If you hear the sound of a drone, see a suspicious object or strange behavior of strangers, contact the police immediately,” Anochin appealed.

A drone attack also occurred in the Voronezh Oblast, reported the Ukrainian website Kyiv Independent, citing Russian media. The target was probably a refinery.

Igor Artamonov, governor of the Lipetsk Oblast in southwestern Russia, said on a Telegram channel that in that region a drone struck in a local industrial zone. Although no one was injured, local residents were evacuated as a precaution, said the head of the regional administration. “There was no threat of an attack on the residential district,” he emphasized, adding that only the area where the drone landed was evacuated.

The governor did not say whether there was any damage or what facility was the target of the attack.

Russian refineries and oil bases are increasingly the target of Ukrainian attacks. At the end of March, Reuters, citing its estimates, reported that at least seven Russian refineries had lost the ability to refine 4.6 million tons of oil, which is a percentage of total production.