Ukraine struck energy facilities in southern Russia with dozens of drones launched on Monday, triggering fires at a major oil refinery and gas processing plant and disrupting flights from the Volga to the Caucasus Mountains, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.
Russia’s defence ministry said that its air defence units intercepted and destroyed 70 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight, including 25 over the Volgograd region, 27 over the Rostov region and seven over the Astrakhan region.
“The air defence forces of the defence ministry repelled a massive attack by aircraft-type drones on the territory of the Volgograd region,” Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov said.
Falling drone debris sparked several fires at an oil refinery, he said, though he did not say which refinery was on fire.
Since Russia sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022, Kyiv has tried to fight back against its much bigger neighbour by striking deep into Russia with drones and missiles, and even killing a senior military commander in Moscow.
Russia says the attacks amount to terrorism, are an escalation of the war and that the West aids the attacks with weapons and targeting information.
