At least two people died in the southern Samara region while responding to fires that broke out at industrial sites targeted in Ukrainian drone attacks overnight, local authorities said Friday, while a 19-year-old was killed in a separate airstrike in the western Bryansk region.
“During terrorist attacks on the civilian infrastructure of our region and country, the despicable enemy in Kyiv launched a record number of drones,” Samara region Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev wrote in a post on VKontakte.
He said emergency personnel were responding to damage caused by the airstrikes, as videos circulating on social media showed large plumes of black smoke rising from multiple buildings. Fedorishchev did not say which sites were struck.
The exiled news outlet Astra said it used those online videos to identify the targeted industrial facility in Samara as the Rosneft-owned Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery, which Ukraine has attacked multiple times in recent years.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak confirmed that Ukrainian drones targeted three oil refineries and one gas chemical complex overnight, saying at least one suffered “minor damage.” He did identify the facilities by name.
The attacks come after U.S. President Donald Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine earlier this month, which neither side said they had agreed to beforehand. That apparent pause in strikes collapsed immediately as the Russian army continued its attacks against Ukraine's power grid.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Ukraine’s military had temporarily paused attacks on Russian oil refineries under pressure from the United States, where high domestic fuel costs are a major issue for voters ahead of next week’s midterm elections.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly told journalists that “our guys tried to be a little more careful during these days,” but added that they were not explicitly told to avoid hitting Russian refineries.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted 1,043 Ukrainian drones across Russia and annexed Crimea between Thursday night and Friday morning.
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