Ukrainian drones hit a Russian oil refinery and an apartment block, killing one person. Photo / exilenova_plus via Telegram
Ukrainian drones hit a Russian oil refinery and an apartment block, killing one person. Photo / exilenova_plus via Telegram
Ukrainian drones hit a Russian oil refinery and an apartment block in an attack just hours before US President Donald Trump was due to host his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for a high-stakes summit in Alaska.
Kyiv has targeted Russia’s oil depots and refineries in long-range drone attacks in whatit calls retaliatory strikes for Moscow’s nightly barrages of Ukrainian cities and its energy grid.
The Ukrainian military said Friday it hit a large oil refinery in the central Russian city of Syzran, some 800km behind the front line.
“The Syzran oil refinery in the Samara region of Russia, one of the largest in the Rosneft system, was hit,” Ukraine’s general staff said, referring to the network of facilities owned by Russian state-run energy giant Rosneft.
It said the facility produced aviation fuel and supplied the Russian army.
Unverified images on social media showed multiple fires and grey smoke billowing from the site at dawn on Friday (local time).
A separate Ukrainian drone strike on an apartment block in the Russian border region of Kursk killed one person and wounded 10 others, local Russian officials said.
“Unfortunately, a 45-year-old woman died on the spot,” Governor Alexander Khinshtein said in a video on Telegram, standing in front of a blown-out window.
Russian attacks also continued, with Ukrainian officials in the frontline Kharkiv and Donetsk regions reporting six civilians killed in strikes over the previous 24 hours.
Ukraine has previously vowed to step up its long-range strikes against Russia as Moscow launched record numbers of missiles and drones at Ukraine in June and July.
The attack came before Putin and Trump met in Alaska with Trump pushing for an end to the Ukraine war, triggered by Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
The attacks occurred as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin prepared for a summit in Alaska. Photo / Getty Images
Russia has advanced on the ground before the talks and Trump has publicly mooted the idea of a territorial swap between the warring sides.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was not invited to the Alaska summit, has ruled that out.
Russia’s army said Ukraine fired 53 drones overnight yesterday, while Ukraine’s air force said Moscow launched 97.
