Ukraine carried out a series of drone strikes on Russian oil pipelines on Saturday, including a station servicing the huge Druzhba pipeline that sends oil from Siberia to Europe, Russian media reported.
Ukrainian drone attacks in Russia have increased in recent weeks, and the New York Times reported that US intelligence believed Ukraine was behind a drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month.
Ukraine has not publicly acknowledged that it struck targets inside Russia.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine did not immediately respond to a request for comment following reports in Russian media.
In the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, two drones attacked a station serving the Druzhba oil pipeline, one of the world’s largest oil pipelines, Kommersant newspaper reports.
The local council of Tver reported that the drone crashed near the village of Yerokhino, about 500 km from the border with Ukraine.
The Baza Telegram channel, which has reliable sources in the Russian special services, reported that drones attacked a station serving the Druzhba oil pipeline.
Built by the Soviet Union, Druzhba has the capacity to pump more than 2 million barrels a day but has been grossly underutilized as Europe has sought to reduce its dependence on Russian energy since President Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine last year.
Earlier this month, the Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft announced that an attack was carried out on a fuel station on the Druzhba pipeline in the Russian region on the border with Ukraine.
Earlier on Saturday, in the Pskov region in western Russia, two drones caused an explosion that damaged the administrative building of the oil pipeline, local governor Mykhailo Vedernikov reported. The incident happened near the village of Lytvynovo, less than 10 km from the Russian border with Belarus.
“The building was temporarily damaged as a result of the firing of two unmanned aerial vehicles,” Vedernikov said.
According to him, there are no victims, an operative group is working on the spot, which is analyzing the scene of the incident.
Source: Hot News
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