Ukrainian Drone Attack Sets Russia’s Kirishi Refinery Ablaze, Woman Killed by Debris

Ukrainian drone attack on Kirishi refinery in Russia, Digi Mart USA News (Leningrad region, Russia): The Kirishi oil refinery in the Leningrad region, Russia’s second-largest, was set on fire following a Ukrainian drone attack on the region on Monday, Governor Alexander Drozdenko said.

The fire has been contained, he wrote on Telegram, adding that one woman had been killed by falling drone debris. Earlier, he said that air defense forces had downed 113 Ukrainian drones, and that an apartment building in Kirishi had been damaged in the same overnight attack.

The refinery came under attack in the early hours of Monday, local time. The wider region is a major export outlet for grain and oil from Russia’s Baltic Sea ports.

Ukraine has now disrupted operations at nearly 30 major Russian oil refineries through precise long-range drone strikes. In a subsequent post on the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s General Staff said Ukrainian forces hit the Morozov Plant.

It said the plant made explosives and solid fuel for missiles, and that three production workshops were damaged.

Attacks on key infrastructure from both sides of the Ukrainian war have intensified in recent days. On Monday, Russia’s armed forces said they struck three power substations across Ukraine.

They also claimed to have hit a cargo ship in the Black Sea that Moscow said was providing arms to Ukraine, state news agencies reported.

Later on Monday, a Russian attack on an infrastructure facility in the southern Ukrainian port city Odesa killed three people, the head of the city’s military administration said.

Russia is seeking to undermine Ukraine’s resolve as winter sets in with strikes on its power system. Moscow has relied on ballistic missiles and new, faster jet-powered drones, taking advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of US-made Patriot interceptors.

Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators will meet on Tuesday for their first peace talks since February.