Ukrainian drones strike 'critical' Druzhba oil pipeline hub in Russia's Tatarstan, SBU source confirms
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Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Drones operated by Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) struck a "critical" Russian oil transportation hub, the Kaleykino oil pumping station, in the Republic of Tatarstan overnight on Feb. 23, an undisclosed source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent.
Residents in the Russian cities of Saratov and Engels reported hearing multiple explosions overnight, according to independent Russian Telegram news channel Astra.
Separately, residents in Tatarstan's Almetyevsk reported further blasts and a fire in the city, though officials have not yet released detailed information about the incidents.
Six explosions rocked the Kaleykino oil pumping station near Almetyevsk, 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) from the Ukrainian border, triggering a large fire, according to the source.
Oil tanks storing crude from Russia's Povolzhye region and Western Siberia before its export also ignited, though the source did not disclose the extent of the damage.
"The SBU is systematically working to curb the extraction and transportation of Russian oil," the source said.
"Our special operations are methodically cutting Russia's oil revenues, which finance the war against Ukraine. This work will continue to gradually exhaust and bleed the Russian economy dry," the source added.
The Exilenova+ Ukrainian Telegram channel earlier reported that the Kaleykino oil pumping station in Russia's Tatarstan was attacked. The facility belongs to Transneft–Prikamye, a regional division of Russia's largest state-controlled pipeline transport company, and serves as a major hub in Russia's trunk oil pipeline system, making it one of the key nodes in the country's oil transport infrastructure.
Exilenova+ published a video showing plumes of smoke near the station. Flames reportedly engulfed two tanks, each holding 50,000 cubic meters of oil, according to the Telegram channel.
The tanks at the Kaleykino oil pumping station are key buffer tanks on the Druzhba pipeline, one of the world's largest crude oil networks, carrying nearly two million barrels per day from Russia through Belarus and Ukraine to Central Europe.
The tanks store and balance oil flows before pumping it further along the pipeline, which supplies refineries in countries including Hungary and Slovakia, the only EU countries still importing Russian crude through the system.
Apart from the strikes on Tatarstan, Russian authorities claimed that overnight on Feb. 23, the city of Belgorod, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the Ukrainian border, came under missile attack.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the city is facing disruptions to electricity, water, and heating after damage to energy facilities.
Footage circulating on public social media channels showed blasts across the city, while witnesses said large parts of Belgorod were left in darkness, with light coming mainly from vehicle headlights.
Gladkov said emergency services were working at impacted sites and that the scale of the damage would be assessed later, adding that apartment buildings, a social facility, and several private homes were damaged in the attacks.
Regional authorities reported drone strikes that damaged equipment at an industrial enterprise and injured a civilian woman in a nearby village, who was hospitalized with blast and shrapnel wounds.
Voronezh Oblast Governor Aleksandr Gusev also reported that debris from a "high-precision target" struck an energy facility in the regional center, disrupting electricity supply.
The Ukrainian officials have not commented on the reported strikes. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims at the time of publication.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed on Feb. 23 that Russian forces intercepted 152 drones launched by Ukraine overnight, including 65 in Belgorod Oblast, 35 in Saratov Oblast, eight in Voronezh Oblast, and three in Tatarstan.
In September, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Ukraine would retaliate against Russia's energy sector if Moscow continued to target Kyiv's power grid.
Russia has ramped up its assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in recent weeks, repeatedly targeting the country's power grid, gas facilities, and heating systems amid constant below freezing temperatures.
