In the early hours of Tuesday, Nov. 12, a Ukrainian drone attacked an oil depot in the Stary Oskol district of Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine’s northeastern regions, reported the Russian regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
“As a result of the explosion, one of the tanks caught fire. Ten firefighting units were on site and promptly extinguished the blaze. No injuries were reported,” Gladkov wrote.
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Ukrainian officials have not commented on possible involvement in the attack. Kyiv Post reached out to a well-informed source in Ukrainian intelligence for details, but they stated only that “details are being clarified.”
Later, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, Andrii Kovalenko, also reported the attack on the oil depot in the Belgorod region and posted a related video on Telegram.
According to The Moscow Times, there are two major oil depots in the Stary Oskol area. One, Oskolnaftopostachannia, is located south of the city and has 24 tanks for storing gasoline and diesel. The other – the Gubkinsky oil depot, belonging to Belgorodnefteprodukt (owned by Rosneft) – is on the west side and contains 13 tanks. This depot was previously targeted by drone attacks in March and August this year.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry’s report, last night its air defense systems shot down 13 Ukrainian drones: nine over the Belgorod region, and two each over the Bryansk and Kursk regions.
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The facility attacked is part of the Russian military-industrial complex and is a crucial link in supplying fuel to Russian occupation forces.
Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil depots a have been a crucial part of an ongoing strategy to weaken Russia’s petroleum sector, its main economic asset.
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