An overnight Ukrainian drone strike on the western Oryol region sparked fires at several fuel and energy sites, local officials said Tuesday, while unconfirmed reports suggested a Federal Security Service (FSB) building in the republic of Chechnya was also damaged amid the attacks.
Oryol region Governor Andrei Klychkov confirmed the attacks in the Livensky district, without identifying any of the targeted facilities by name.
“No injuries were reported. Emergency services are at the scene and carrying out the necessary response and cleanup operations,” Klychkov wrote on Telegram.
The exiled news outlet Meduza noted that the district is home to the Livny Combined Heat and Power Plant, the main supplier of electricity and heat for the region’s second-largest city of Livny.
Telegram news channels reported that the Orelnefteprodukt fuel depot, a logistics hub said to have been attacked in January, is also located in the Livensky district.
Meanwhile, residents in Chechnya claimed a Ukrainian drone strike badly damaged an FSB building in the region, according to media reports. Officials have not commented on the incident.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defense systems had shot down one Ukrainian drone in the Oryol region and four in Chechnya overnight. It said a total of 45 Ukrainian drones had been downed across eight regions, as well as annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.
Civil aviation authorities temporarily restricted flights at seven airports across Russia, including in the Chechen capital of Grozny.
Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure since the summer in a bid to undercut Moscow’s oil revenues, a key source of funding for its war effort.
November marked a new monthly record in those kinds of attacks, with at least 14 Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries reported.
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