Ukrainian drones have struck an oil refinery and a fuel depot in Russia’s border regions, officials in the target areas said Thursday, in Kiev’s ongoing bid to disrupt the Kremlin’s war machine and as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought further Western support in Europe’s biggest conflict since the second World War. II.
Zelenskyy was due to join world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, at D-Day commemorations in France on Thursday. He was due to meet French officials on Friday.
Zelenskyy’s trip came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia could supply long-range weapons to other countries so they could attack Western targets. That threat came after NATO allies said they would allow Ukraine to use the weapons they supply to Kiev to attack Russian territory.
Ukraine’s military is fighting to hold off a recent Russian attack in eastern areas, which aims to exploit Kiev’s shortages of ammunition and troops along its roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line after more than two years of war.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said Putin’s comments Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Russia, amounted to “a quite significant shift in our foreign policy.”
“Let the US and its allies feel the impact of the direct use of Russian weapons by others,” Medvedev wrote on his messaging app channel.
Putin deliberately did not mention names of possible countries that could receive Russian weapons, Medvedev said. They can turn to anyone who considers the US and its allies their enemies, he said.
An overnight drone strike hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region and caused a fire, Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev said. Firefighters had to withdraw briefly because of a second attack, he said.
The extent of the damage to the facility was not immediately clear. Golubev said there were no casualties.
In Belgorod, another border region, a drone hit an oil depot overnight, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. It caused an explosion and fire in one of the oil reservoirs. The fire was quickly extinguished and there were no casualties, Gladkov said.
It was not immediately possible to verify the reports.
Refineries, fuel depots and oil terminals have been targeted by increasingly sophisticated Ukrainian drone attacks that have penetrated deep into Russia. The attacks deprive Moscow of revenue, and Western sanctions have increased pressure on Russia’s energy sector.
Russia, meanwhile, has attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing widespread power outages. The apparent goal is to undermine public morale and influence military factories.
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