This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Ukraine’s main security and counterintelligence agency was behind an overnight drone attack that ignited a major fire at an oil depot in the southern Russian city of Azov, a reliable source in the Ukrainian security forces told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service on June 18.
The source said a special operation by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) using multiple drones had ignited powerful fires at the Rostov region facility, which houses oil depots and fuel terminals.
Kyiv generally avoids commenting on such incidents but has increasingly resorted to targeting Russian energy infrastructure, mainly oil installations, with its own drone strikes in order to degrade the Russian military’s fuel reserves to beat back a 2-year-old full-scale invasion.
The Ukrainian security source said the SBU would continue efforts to chisel away at economic potential that provides resources that help Russia wage war on Ukraine.
Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev said there were no casualties from the drone attacks that ignited the Azov fire.
He also quoted experts as saying there was “no risk of the fire spreading to other facilities, or threats to residents.”
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry posted video of the blaze and said a 5,000-cubic-meter fuel tank had caught fire.
It said more than 70 firefighters with equipment, including a fire train, were trying to extinguish the fire.
Russian officials have blamed Ukrainian drones for multiple attacks on oil installations in recent weeks near the border with Ukraine, in Belgorod and Novoshakhtinsk.
Ukraine has been subjected to near-constant Russian drone and missile strikes on its civilian and energy infrastructure since the start of the full-scale invasion by Russia two years ago.
The Russian air attacks have caused numerous casualties among civilians and huge material damage across the country, including the capital, Kyiv.
