Ukrainian drone attacks claimed one life and ignited a fire at an oil facility inside Russia on Sunday, as Kyiv continues its campaign of strikes targeting military and energy infrastructure deep within Russian territory.
The governor of Russia’s southwestern Oryol region, Andrei Klychkov, announced Sunday that one person was killed and nine others were injured after a Ukrainian drone struck a residential building overnight in the regional capital, which shares the same name as the region — Oryol.
Hundreds of miles away, local officials in Russia’s Yaroslavl region reported that fuel storage facilities burst into flames after being struck by a drone. The Yaroslavl region sits roughly 700 kilometers — about 440 miles — from the Ukrainian border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed his country’s forces were behind the Yaroslavl attack, stating they had “struck an oil facility that was important for the reserve of the aggressor state.”
Ukraine has intensified its targeting of Russian oil and gas infrastructure in recent months, with Kyiv arguing that Russia’s energy sector both finances and directly supports Moscow’s invasion, which has now stretched beyond four years.
In a related development, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Sunday that the United Kingdom is investigating a sanctioned vessel believed to be part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” — a network of ships allegedly used to ship oil in defiance of international sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.
British armed forces boarded and seized the ship, identified as the Smyrtos, on Sunday in the English Channel. The country’s Defense Ministry described the operation as “the first U.K.-led operation of its kind.” Russia is thought to be operating hundreds of such vessels to get around the sanctions.
“This operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine that they cannot hide,” Starmer said.
