Russia repels record-breaking drone assault on key oil sites

Last night, there was one of the most massive drone attacks on Russian territory. Over one hundred drones targeted oil and gas infrastructure in Crimea, Krasnodar Krai, Adygea, and Volgograd Oblast.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the country's air defense system neutralized 114 Ukrainian drones. The incident occurred from Thursday to Friday night, Eastern Time.

According to the ministry, 70 of these drones were shot down over Russian-annexed Crimea, 43 in Krasnodar Krai, and one in Volgograd Oblast. One person was killed, as reported by AFP.

Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Krasnodar Krai, announced on his Telegram channel that several buildings on the oil refinery premises in the Seversky district were damaged. The body of one victim was found under the rubble.

The Ministry of Defense in Moscow claims that the armed forces destroyed six Ukrainian sea drones in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.

Ukrainian troops and special services regularly conduct advanced operations over Russian territory using uncrewed aerial vehicles. The targets of these attacks include military, industrial, and technological sites, even those located far from the Ukrainian border, such as in Tatarstan and Leningrad Oblast.

In recent months, there has been an increase in attacks on Russian refineries. According to Reuters, the processing capacity of facilities in Russia that were taken out of service in the first quarter of 2024 due to drone raids was about 5 million tons of crude oil (approximately 393,000 barrels per day). This accounted for about 7 percent of the processing capacity of all refineries in the country.