Ukraine hit a refinery in Russia’s Bashkortostan region overnight in a drone attack that sparked a fire, as Kyiv continues to pound Russian energy infrastructure to reduce Russian fuel supply.
One of the refineries in Ufa, in the Bashkortostan republic, caught fire as a result of the attack, the region’s governor Radiy Khabirov said on Wednesday.
Ufa and the area around it host three refineries, all owned and operated by Bashneft, a unit of Russia’s biggest oil company Rosneft.
The Ukrainian attack overnight caused “a small fire at one of the oil refineries,” Khabirov said in a social media post quoted by Bloomberg, adding that “the extent of the damage is being assessed.”
Repairs are expected within a few days, according to the Russian official.
For several months, Ukraine has been targeting Russian oil refineries in nearly-daily drone attacks to force Putin into peace negotiations while crippling Russia’s fuel supply to the frontline and domestic gas stations.
Last week, Ukraine also attacked Ust-Luga, the top Russian port for exports of oil and other commodities from the Baltic Sea.
This was not the first Ukrainian drone attack on Ust-Luga, which is a key export port for Russia’s crude oil, fuel, coal, fertilizers, and grain shipments. The previous attack was in early July.
Ukraine has intensified drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure this year, targeting refineries, Russia-linked tankers in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and supply routes, in a bid to cut Russia’s energy export revenues and fuel supply.
Russia’s diesel and gasoil exports crashed in the first seven days of August to just 80,000 barrels per day (bpd), the lowest in many years, as Moscow extended restrictions on diesel exports amid a fuel crisis triggered by incessant Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries.
Amid peak demand season, Russia has been suffering from gasoline and diesel shortages for over three months, as Ukraine’s drone campaign to strike Russian refineries forced many large processing sites offline in the spring and summer.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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