Overnight drone strikes launched by Ukraine against Russian territory have left one person dead, injured several others, and caused damage to industrial facilities and two oil tankers, according to local Russian officials speaking Wednesday.
The governor of Russia’s Saratov region, Roman Busargin, announced via Telegram that a Ukrainian drone attack in his region resulted in one fatality, injuries to multiple people, and damage to civilian industrial sites.
In Russia’s southern Rostov region, Governor Yury Slyusar reported on Telegram that two tankers were struck in the Taganrog Bay area of the Sea of Azov. He noted that both vessels were empty at the time and had been traveling toward Rostov-on-Don. Two people in the area suffered minor injuries, he added.
According to Ukraine’s military, Ukrainian drones have targeted roughly a dozen tankers belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” over the past several days — vessels that had been transporting fuel to Crimea. The Sea of Azov serves as a critical supply corridor for Russian forces operating in Crimea and other Russian-held areas of southern Ukraine.
The mayor of Nizhnekamsk, a city in the central Russian region of Tatarstan, Radmir Belyayev, described a “massive” drone assault on his city in a post on the Telegram messaging platform.
Russia’s defense ministry reported that its forces intercepted and destroyed 415 Ukrainian drones over a 12-hour span.
These attacks are part of an intensifying Ukrainian campaign targeting Russian oil refineries, which has escalated in recent weeks. Throughout the ongoing conflict — now entering its fifth year — Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, resulting in widespread power outages and shortages of heating fuel during the winter months.
