Key Russian oil refinery struck in Ukrainian drone attack
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Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Ukrainian drones reportedly struck a major Russian oil refinery in the city of Syzran in Samara Oblast overnight on July 12, Russian Telegram media channels reported.
Photos and videos posted to social media by local residents purport to show large flames and thick black smoke rising from the Szyran Oil Refinery, located more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
The refinery has a processing capacity of approximately 9 million tons of crude oil per year and supplies fuel to the Russian Air Force and military units in central and southern Russia, while also exporting petroleum products via the Volga River and the Caspian Sea.
Although the weaponry used in the attack was not immediately confirmed, Ukrainian forces have regularly used domestically-produced long-range drones to target Russia's oil infrastructure.
The extent of the damage caused was not immediately clear.
The Kyiv Independent cannot immediately verify the reports. Ukraine's military has not yet commented on the reported attack.
Kyiv considers energy facilities to be valid military targets, as the energy sites provide fuel and funding for the Kremlin's war machine.
Ukraine has been waging an increasingly successful deep strike campaign against Russian oil infrastructure, striking oil depots, disrupting production at major facilities, and in some cases halting operations indefinitely.
Ukraine's most recent strike on an oil refinery came two nights prior on July 9, when Kyiv's forces struck the Ilsky Oil Refinery in Russia's Krasnodar Krai. Prior to that on July 8, the Saratov Oil Refinery was struck, leading to a halt in production.
Ukraine's refinery attacks have mounted pressure on the Kremlin by aggravating a domestic fuel supply crisis that has already caused export bans, price hikes, and sales restrictions across Russia.
The Russian government announced earlier this week that it would ban the export of diesel fuel until at least the end of the month, after weeks of Ukraine successfully pummeling energy infrastructure.
