According to Reuters, on February 3, Ukraine used dozens of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack energy facilities in southern Russia, causing fires in many places and disrupting air transport.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that nearly 70 Ukrainian UAVs were intercepted and destroyed overnight, including 25 in the Volgograd region, 27 in the Rostov region and 7 in the Astrakhan region.
Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov said that debris from the falling UAVs caused a fire at a refinery but did not specify which facilities were affected.
According to Telegram channel Baza (Russia), there is a possibility that the refinery operated by Lukoil in Volgograd province was affected because it heard a series of explosions nearby. The plant has a capacity of 300,000 barrels/day, the largest in southern Russia.
In the neighboring Astrakhan region, Governor Igor Babushkin said that Ukrainian UAVs have tried to attack energy facilities.
The plant is believed by Russian media to be controlled by the gas giant Gazprom, which is capable of handling about 8,340 tons of condensate per day.
However, neither Gazprom nor Lukoil have confirmed the information.
On the Ukrainian side, Lieutenant Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Counter-Information and Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, also said that the Astrakhan gas processing plant had been attacked.
Video of the scene shows a huge fire and black smoke rising in the night sky above an oil and gas processing plant, while witnesses were amazed by the scale of the fire.
Russian airline agency Rosaviatsia has temporarily suspended flights at many airports to ensure aviation safety. Since then, most flights have been restored.
Ukraine regularly deploys UAVs on Russian territory as part of efforts to respond to Moscow's special military campaign from 2022.
Russia has called the strikes a terrorist act, escalating the conflict and accusing the West of supporting Ukraine with weapons and intelligence.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said they have the right to respond, as Russia's energy infrastructure, transportation and military played a key role in fueling the conflict.