Ukrainian drones reportedly strike oil refinery in Russian city of Ufa

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in the Russian city of Ufa in the early hours of April 2, independent media reported.

The Bashneft-Novoil oil refinery was struck by Ukrainian long-range drones, leaving a fire at the site, according to the Ukrainian Open Source Intelligence project CyberBoroshno.

A residential building was also struck and set on fire in Ufa, independent Telegram outlet Astra reported.

Regional governor Rady Khabirov claimed that the Ukrainian drones were all shot down on their way to the refinery, and that only debris from the downed drones caused any damage.

There were no injuries or deaths as a result of the strike on the building, and the flames have been extinguished, local authorities said.

Ufa is located in Russia’s Bashkortostan Republic approximately 1300 kilometers (800 miles) from the Ukrainian border, putting the attack at the longer end of successful Ukrainian deep strikes, which have ramped up significantly over the past year.

The refinery, owned by Russia’s state-controlled oil giant Rosneft, processes around 7.3 million tonnes of oil per year.

Ukraine regularly strikes military infrastructure deep within Russia and occupied territories in an effort to diminish Moscow’s capacity to continue waging war on Ukraine.

Kyiv considers oil facilities to be valid military targets as they directly fund Russia’s war.

Overnight on March 30, Ukrainian forces reportedly struck a chemical plant in Russia’s Samara Oblast, Russian Telegram media channels reported.

Ukraine struck an oil and gas terminal in the Russian port of Ust-Luga for the second time in the span of a week, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on March 29 in an operation led by the SBU’s Alpha special forces unit.