Drone attack reportedly hits Russia's Ilsky oil refinery, sparks fire
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A drone attack reportedly targeted the Ilsky oil refinery in Russia's Krasnodar Krai overnight on Sept. 26, with footage and local reports shared online indicating a large fire at the facility.
Russian and Ukrainian monitoring channels reported explosions in the area of the refinery as the drone activity continued overnight.
Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratiev confirmed that drones attacked the Seversky district, where the refinery is located, and claimed there were fatalities and one person seriously injured.
Kondratiev said drone debris also damaged a residential building and that fires had broken out at two enterprises in the district. He did not identify the facilities.
Independent Russian outlet ASTRA said its analysis of eyewitness footage showed that one of the fires was at the Ilsky refinery.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify that the Ilsky refinery was one of the facilities struck or assess the extent of the damage.
The Ilsky refinery, located roughly 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Ukrainian-controlled territory, is one of the largest oil-processing facilities in southern Russia, producing nearly 6.6 million tons of fuel annually.
The facility has been targeted repeatedly by Ukrainian forces throughout the full-scale war. By June, the refinery had been struck at least 16 times, according to the Russian independent outlet ASTRA.
Ukraine's General Staff confirmed a strike on the refinery on June 2 that caused a major fire. Ukrainian forces struck the facility again on Aug. 8, with the General Staff reporting a hit followed by a fire on the refinery grounds.
Krasnodar Krai, a strategic region along Russia's Black Sea coast, has increasingly come under Ukrainian drone attacks as Kyiv extends the range of its strikes deep into Russian territory.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian oil refineries and other energy infrastructure in an effort to disrupt fuel supplies to the Russian military and reduce revenues used to finance Moscow's war.
