Alexander Bogomaz, the regional governor, said that four oil tanks at a large storage facility in the town of Klintsy in Russia’s western Bryansk region caught fire on Friday (Jan 19) after the military brought down a Ukrainian strike drone there.
He added that aided by a specialised firefighting train, firefighters tackled what he said was a serious blaze at the facility controlled by oil major Rosneft.
“An aeroplane-style drone was brought down by the defence ministry using radio-electronic means. When the aerial target was destroyed, its munitions were dropped on the territory of the Klintsy oil depot,” Bogomaz wrote on the Telegram messaging app, also mentioning that nobody was hurt in the attack, he added.
He said air defence units had brought down two other Ukrainian drones on Friday over other parts of Bryansk, a region that borders Ukraine.
On social media, Bogomaz shared footage of firefighters directing water hoses at massive flames surrounding the storage tanks, at least one of which appeared to be severely damaged, while dense smoke filled the air.
Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed that the attack on the Russian oil depot in Klinsty was part of a “fair” retaliation in response to Russia’s strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure, as reported by The Guardian.
Ukraine also claimed responsibility for a drone strike that caused a massive fire at an oil station in western Russia on Friday – an incident which emerged as the latest in a string of rising cross-border attacks.
Russia and Ukraine have both targeted each other’s energy infrastructure in strikes intended to disrupt supply lines and logistics while also demoralising their opponents as they strive to gain an advantage in a nearly two-year conflict that shows no signs of ending.
Watch: Russia-Ukraine war: The victory in war may come down to who can last longer
Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency, neither confirmed nor denied Ukraine had been behind the attack, but said “such events regularly occur at the aggressor state’s military facilities”.
Yusov told national TV he expected the incident to complicate logistics for Russian troops, increasing Ukrainian forces’ “room for manoeuvre”.
Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on Ukraine-Russia war on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos
(With inputs from agencies)
