Ukraine claims that its forces successfully attacked an oil refinery in the Russian town of Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod, about 800 kilometres from the front line in eastern Ukraine, on the night of Wednesday, the 29th of January. Four drones hit the Lukoil oil refinery, Ukrainian media reported, adding that the facility had suffered significant damage, reports the BBC.
Videos posted on social media showed large flames raging above the industrial site.
The regional governor, Gleb Nikitin, said that debris from a drone had fallen over the industrial area and that no casualties had been reported at the scene.
The Lukoil refinery of Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod, in Russia has been severely hit by UAVs. Flames are consuming large parts of the facility, which processes annually 15 million tons of crude oil. It is the forth largest refinery in Russia in terms of production. pic.twitter.com/ZAhUTpbDqL
— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) January 29, 2025
Separately, the Governor of Smolensk Region, Vasily Anokhin, said on Telegram that there had been a “massive” drone attack on “civilian infrastructure” in his region, although no casualties were immediately reported. Anokhin said that one of the drones was shot down while trying to attack a nuclear power plant.
A mother and her child were killed in the Belgorod border region, which has been frequently targeted by Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Belgorod region, said another child and his father were wounded in the strike.
The attack on Nizhny Novgorod, Smolensk and Belgorod regions was part of a larger overnight attack
in which Russia claimed to have shot down more than 100 Ukrainian drones and caused St Petersburg and Kazan airports to suspend operations overnight.
It was one of the largest such Ukrainian operations in the war and the second massive drone strike in a week. On Friday, Ukraine hit another Russian oil refinery and targeted Moscow in an attack involving at least 121 drones.
According to TopLeadEU, Ukraine carried out at least 84 attacks on Russian oil infrastructure in 2024, with the most distant site 1 500km from the front line.
While Ukrainian drones were rampaging through the Russian skies, Moscow itself attacked at night, triggering an air raid alert in several regions of Ukraine. The Ukrainian army said it had shot down 29 Russian drones in nine regions.
As the third year of the war in Ukraine approaches, the conflict grinds on.
Russia continues to regularly take small positions in eastern Ukraine, moving ever closer to the strategically important city of Pokrovsk, which plays an important role as a logistical hub used by Ukrainian forces in the region.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces continue to hold several hundred square kilometres of territory in Russia’s western Kursk region, which they invaded in August.