Ukraine launches overnight drone strikes, targets Russian oil refinery

Kyiv [Ukraine], August 2 : A series of Ukrainian drone strikes has resulted in significant damage and loss of life in western Russia, with at least three people killed and two others wounded in the overnight attacks, as a fire broke out at an oil refinery in central Russia after it was hit, Al Jazeera reported

In one incident, a woman was killed and two others were wounded when a Ukrainian drone targeted an enterprise in the Penza region, Oleg Melnichenko wrote on Telegram on Saturday.

In another incident, an elderly man died inside his house when it caught fire due to falling drone debris in the Samara region. Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev confirmed the death on Telegram.

According to Al Jazeera, a guard at an industrial facility was killed after a drone attack caused a fire in one of the site's buildings in the Rostov region. Acting Governor Yury Slyusar reported that the military had repelled a massive air attack during the night, destroying drones over seven districts.

Slyusar wrote on Telegram, "The military repelled a massive air attack during the night," destroying drones over seven districts.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's military claimed to have struck Russia's Ryazan oil refinery, causing a fire on its territory. The Unmanned Systems Forces also reported hitting the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region.

While the Ukrainian military did not specify how the facilities were hit, they have expertise in drone warfare, including long-range strikes, as per Al Jazeera.

Separately, Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency said its drones had hit Russia's Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, which has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at targets in Ukraine.

The SBU said it also hit a factory in Penza that it said supplies Russia's military-industrial complex with electronics.

At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine had no response to Moscow's vast long-range strike capacity, but it has since built up a fleet of long-range kamikaze drones able to carry explosive warheads for many hundreds of kilometres (miles).

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor