Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Ukrainian forces struck two Russian defense plants in Tula and Voronezh regions, as well as oil facilities in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight on Sept. 28, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The long-range strikes against the Russian targets were confirmed by Zelensky on social media, who said he was “Grateful to everyone who returns the war to where it came from.”
“Sanctions were applied to facilities in the Kaluga and Oryol regions, which the Russians use for drone terror against Ukraine. In the Bryansk region, they worked directly against the occupation contingent. There is also a target hit in the Black Sea,” he added.
A fire was reported at the Pavlovskaya oil depot in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai overnight on Sept. 28 amid a large-scale drone attack on the region, according to local reports.
Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ published footage of a large fire and identified the facility as the Pavlovskaya oil depot.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the footage or the reported target.
An oil depot in Novotitarovskaya was reportedly hit in a drone attack on Sept. 24.
During that attack, Exilenova+ reported that the facility caught fire, while Russian authorities acknowledged a fire at an unidentified facility in the Dinsky district of Krasnodar Krai. No injuries were reported at the time.
Ukraine did not comment on the Sept. 24 attack.
The latest reported strike also comes two days after Ukrainian forces struck the Ilsky oil refinery elsewhere in Krasnodar Krai, sparking a fire at the facility.
Ukraine’s General Staff later confirmed the Sept. 26 strike, while Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said the operation involved the 1st Separate Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces and the 414th Unmanned Systems Brigade, known as “Madyar’s Birds.”
Ukraine has intensified “long-range sanctions”, or long-range attacks against Russian oil infrastructure, targeting refineries, depots, and other facilities that Kyiv says support Moscow’s war effort, in an effort to disrupt fuel supplies and reduce energy revenues.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Sept. 21 that repeated long-range strikes had knocked out 45% of Russia’s total oil refining capacity. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify that figure.