- Drones attack Druzhba pipeline infrastructure
- Drones are striking deep inside Russia
- One was killed in shelling near the Ukrainian border
MOSCOW, May 27 (Portal) – Ukraine on Saturday launched a series of drone strikes into oil pipeline facilities deep in Russia’s interior, including a station serving the giant Druzhba oil pipeline that transports western Siberian crude oil to Europe, Russian media said on Saturday.
Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia have increased in intensity in recent weeks, and the New York Times reported that earlier this month US intelligence suspected Ukraine was behind a drone strike on the Kremlin.
Ukraine has not publicly admitted to carrying out attacks on targets inside Russia. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
In the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, two drones attacked a station serving the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline, one of the largest oil pipelines in the world, the Kommersant newspaper reported.
Tver Municipal Council said a drone crashed near the village of Erokhino, some 500 km (310 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
Telegram channel Baza, which has good sources in Russia’s security services, said the drones had attacked a station supplying the Druzhba pipeline.
Druzhba, built by the Soviet Union, has a production capacity of more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd) but has been severely underutilized after Europe sought to reduce its reliance on Russian energy after President Vladimir Putin’s troops last year sent to Ukraine.
Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft (TRNF_p.MM) said earlier this month that a gas station on Druzhba in a Russian region bordering Ukraine was attacked.
In the Pskov region of western Russia, two drones caused an explosion that damaged the administration building of an oil pipeline, local governor Mikhail Vedernikov said. The incident happened near the village of Litvinovo, less than 10 km (6 miles) from Russia’s border with Belarus.
“Preliminarily, the building was damaged by an attack by two unmanned aerial vehicles,” Vedernikov said.
He said there were no casualties and that a task force is on the scene and will draw final conclusions.
In another incident, a construction worker near the border with Ukraine in the Kursk region was killed by shelling from Ukraine, the local governor said.
Portal could not immediately verify the reported attacks.
Written by Alexander Marrow in London and Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow. Editing by Frances Kerry
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Guy Faulconbridge
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