Drones hit key Russian petrochemical plant in Republic of Bashkortostan, Ukraine's HUR says
Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) said on Nov. 7 that its drones struck a key petrochemical plant in Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan, over 1,000 kilometers away from Ukraine's border.
Ukrainian long-range drones struck the Sterlitamak Petrochemical Plant, which supplies the Russian army and Russia's military-industrial complex, including ionol, aviation gasoline, and synthetic polymers, according to Ukrainian military intelligence, which goes by HUR.
HUR claims that the drone strike on Nov. 6 led to a fire in the workshop producing an additive known as agidol, used for aviation fuel. The Kyiv Independent was unable to independently verify the claim.
Head of the republic, Radiy Khabirov, has not commented on the claimed drone strike on the key plant. Throughout the war, neither side has rarely acknowledged the setbacks.
Outmanned and outgunned on the battlefield, Ukraine has relied on its homemade long-range strike drones to hit targets such as oil refineries and logistic facilities deep inside Russia.
Earlier on Nov. 4, Khabirov admitted that two Ukrainian drones had targeted the same plant. He claimed that both were shot down by the Russian air defense and the enterprise security service, but the debris fell in the industrial zone near the auxiliary workshop.
In August 2024, an explosion injured three people at the Sterlitamak Petrochemical Plant, municipal authorities reported. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said then that the explosion was caused by a liquified gas fire.
The plant began operating in 1963 in the Soviet Union and is owned by Russian chemical holding Ruschem, formerly called Russian Hydrogen.
In 2024, the Russian Interfax news agency reported that the Sterlitamak Petrochemical Plant had finished its research and work to start producing Agidol-100, which had never been produced in Russia before.
"Domestic production of the antioxidant is expected to create new possibilities for the petrochemical industry," Interfax, backed by the Kremlin, reported in January 2024.
Asami Terajima
