KYIV – Ukraine said on Friday it had struck a Russian oil refinery and a microchip factory in a huge drone attack that caused fires at the refinery’s production facilities and an oil pumping station.
Russia said hours earlier that its forces had repelled an overnight drone attack, but four industry sources confirmed to Reuters that one of Russia’s oldest refineries had been struck in the city of Ryazan southeast of Moscow overnight.
The attack set ablaze oil storage at the refinery and damaged equipment including a railway loading rack and a hydrotreater unit used to remove impurities from refined products, the sources said.
Video footage posted on social media showed smoke and flames engulfing an oil refinery in Ryazan, and people apparently running for safety in panic. Reuters was able to verify the location of the video footage but not when it was shot.
If confirmed, the overnight strikes underline Ukraine’s ability to hit targets deep inside Russia as the two sides try to strengthen their positions before any peace talks get under way following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The US president has said he intends to bring a swift end to nearly three years of war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he was open to discussions with Trump on the Ukraine war, but that the question of negotiating with Ukraine was complicated by the fact that its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had signed a decree preventing him from conducting talks with Putin.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he saw no objective signs that Ukraine or the West were ready for peace talks.
“On the contrary, Western military supplies to the Ukrainian armed forces are continuing, ultimatums to Russia are being worked out, there is a (Ukrainian) legal ban on negotiations, and the issue of the legitimacy of the Ukrainian authorities is not being resolved,” Lavrov said in remarks published on Friday. (Reuters)
