Fires broke out at energy sites in the southern Volgograd region overnight Thursday, following what officials described as a “large-scale” Ukrainian drone attack.
Volgograd region Governor Andrei Bocharov said air defense systems repelled the drones, adding that debris from downed aircraft ignited fires at multiple energy facilities, including a centralized heating plant in the Kotovsky district.
The Kotovsky district is also home to the Lukoil-Korobkovsky gas processing plant, which processes roughly 450 million cubic meters of gas per year.
Local residents told the Telegram news channel Astra that there was a fire at the Korobovsky plant several hours after Bocharov’s statement.
Andriy Kovalenko, who heads the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council's anti-disinformation center, appeared to confirm the attack in a Thursday morning Telegram post saying that drones had struck the Lukoil-Korobkovsky facility.
NASA’s satellite fire monitoring system showed active fires at the Korobovsky plant and a nearby location, which Astra identified as the Transneft-Privolga’s Yefimovka oil pumping station.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defense systems had intercepted and destroyed nine of the 19 Ukrainian drones over the Volgograd region overnight.
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