A Ukrainian drone strike on an oil depot in the western Russian city of Bryansk has resulted in numerous explosions, several videos posted on Telegram by news outlet Kyiv Post appear to show.
The Transneft oil depot in southwestern Russia caught fire following a Ukrainian drone strike, according to the RBC-Ukraine news agency.
One of many Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil depots this year, this reported attack is likely part of Kyiv’s effort to impact one of Moscow’s biggest exports. Previous strikes on Russian energy facilities caused oil companies in the country to reduce gasoline production.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment via email.
An oil depot owned by Transneft is on fire in Russia’s Bryansk after reports of numerous explosions.
Russian channels claim air defenses responded to a drone attack. pic.twitter.com/lFfT6yGpLe
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) December 10, 2024
Local residents told the Russian-linked news outlet Shot on Telegram that six to 10 explosions were heard over the Fokinsky district of Bryansk after midnight on December 11. The city of Bryansk is approximately 62 miles away from the Ukrainian border.
The region’s governor, Alexander Bogomaz, posted on Telegram that the air defense forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation “discovered and destroyed 10 aircraft type UAVs” and that there were no casualties following the drone strike.
The governor also posted on Telegram about the fire and wrote: “As a result of a drone attack in Bryansk, a production facility caught fire. At present, thanks to the coordinated and professional actions of the units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia in the Bryansk region, the fire has been extinguished. Thanks to our valiant firefighters!”
State-controlled Transneft is the world’s largest pipeline company that transports more than 85 percent of the oil produced in Russia, according to the Russian National Committee of the World Petroleum Council. The company owns more than 69,000 kilometers (nearly 43,000 miles) of pipelines.
Ukraine conducted a drone strike on the Proletarsk oil depot in Russia’s southwestern Rostov region in August, which had already been on fire, resulting from a previous drone attack.
Ukraine also struck several oil depots and caused fires to break out in one night in October in the Belgorod, Voronezh region and Rostov regions, as well as in the waters of the Sea of Azov. Kyiv said that the target facility in the Voronezh region attack was the Annanefteprodukt fuel and lubricants storage base in the town of Anna.
Kyiv had targeted Bryansk before when Ukraine used U.S.-made long-range ATACMS missiles, for the first time on Russian territory, in a strike on a munitions storage facility in November.
Taisia Liskovets/Associated Press
