Zelensky ‘brings war back to square one’ after Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil facilities
Russian officials said a Ukrainian drone strike set several Russian oil facilities on fire overnight, the Associated Press reported, in the latest in a series of attacks on Moscow’s energy infrastructure.Authorities in Russia’s Rostov region said debris from a falling drone sparked a fire that damaged an oil depot and an oil tanker in the port city of Taganrog. In the neighboring Krasnodar region, officials reported another fire at an oil depot in Armavir, also allegedly caused by drone debris.president of ukraine Vladimir Zelensky The seemingly confirmed attack on Amavir highlights Ukraine’s growing ability to strike targets deep in Russian territory.“Another facility of the Russian oil industry has arrived – Armavir,” Zelensky wrote on X, noting that the city is “500 kilometers away from our state border.”He added: “We are rightly bringing the war back to where it came from.”Ukraine significantly increased its long-range strike capabilities during the war, using domestically produced drones and missiles to target Russian military and energy infrastructure.Attacks on oil depots, refineries and fuel facilities have become increasingly frequent as Kyiv seeks to disrupt a major source of revenue that supports Russia’s military operations.Meanwhile, Russia continues to launch missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure. Kiev is bracing for a possible intensification of Russian bombing after Moscow warned it earlier this week that it was about to launch a “systemic attack” on the Ukrainian capital.Zelensky said on Thursday he remained “very insistent” on urging the United States to provide more Patriot air defense missiles capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missile attacks.The latest development comes a day after a Russian drone involved in attacks in Ukraine struck an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people in the NATO member state.The incident has reignited fears of the war spreading beyond Ukraine’s borders and prompted criticism from some European countries.Meanwhile, Russian state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom claimed that a Ukrainian drone attacked the Russian-controlled Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on Saturday. Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev said the drone hit the wall of the turbine hall, leaving a hole but causing no damage to critical equipment.The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, has been under Russian control since the early days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Although the plant is no longer operational, it still needs a steady supply of electricity to cool its six shuttered reactors and spent nuclear fuel.
