Ukrainian drones set fire to Russian oil depot after Russian missile launch

A Ukrainian drone strike has sparked a fire at an oil depot in Russia’s southern Volgograd region, regional authorities said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, the regional governor was quoted as saying in a Telegram post.

The post did not specify the damage, but said that people living near the depot may have to be evacuated.

Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion.

Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponise winter”.

Saturday’s attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, according to Ukrainian officials, killing at least four people in the capital.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year-old war, it used a powerful, new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine on Friday, in a clear warning to Kyiv’s Nato allies.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further Moscow aggression if a US-led peace deal is struck.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said Friday’s attacks “have resulted in significant civilian casualties and deprived millions of Ukrainians of essential services, including electricity, heating and water at a time of acute humanitarian need”.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said heat supply would be fully restored in Kyiv by the end of Saturday.

She said areas lying on the right bank of the Dnieper river would gradually lift emergency blackouts and return to scheduled outages. But resuming power in the left bank, where Russian attacks were concentrated, is more complicated due to significant damage to the power grid, she added.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces used aviation, drones, missiles and artillery to strike Ukrainian energy facilities and fuel-storage depots on Friday and overnight. It did not immediately specify the targets or damage.

Overnight into Saturday, Russia struck Ukraine with 121 drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile, according to the Ukrainian air force. It said 94 drones were shot down.

Separately, the Russian Defence Ministry said 59 Ukrainian drones were “neutralised” overnight over Russia and occupied Crimea.