Drones from Ukraine attack oil refinery in Russia’s Kaluga region, source says

KYIV - Ukraine attacked a small oil refinery in Russia’s Kaluga region with drones early on March 15, in an operation that was conducted by the GUR military spy agency, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.

Ukraine was checking the extent of the damage at the facility, the source said.

The Russian governor of the region said there had been no serious infrastructure damage or casualties.

Kyiv has conducted

a string of drone attacks on major Russian oil facilities

in the last week, trying to target the lifeblood of the Russian economy more than two years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The privately owned Kaluga refinery, some 65km from the outskirts of Moscow, is not one of Russia’s important oil facilities. It says its primary processing unit’s capacity is 1.2 million tons a year, roughly 24,000 barrels a day.

Mr Vladislav Shapsha, the Russian governor of the Kaluga region, said earlier on the Telegram messenger app that air defences had shot down four drones in the area where the refinery is located and that there had been no infrastructure damage or casualties.

He later said that four drones tried to attack one of the region’s enterprises, causing no serious damage.

One of the drones was shot down by air defence, while three others were jammed by radioelectronic warfare.

“The enterprise continues its operations,” he said, without providing a name.

There was no immediate comment from the company that owns the refinery.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the statements.

Ukraine has prioritised the production of long-range drones during its war with Russia to narrow the gap in strike capabilities as it faces a much larger foe with far more sophisticated weaponry.

Ukraine’s digital minister, who has championed the domestic drone industry, told Reuters in February that Ukraine planned to produce thousands of long-range drones this year for strikes in Russia.

Moscow has used thousands of Iranian-made “Shahed” attack drones to bomb targets in Ukraine since the first year of the war, Ukrainian officials say.

Two people were killed overnight in the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia when a residential building was struck during a Russian drone attack, Kyiv officials said. REUTERS