A large fire at an oil storage facility in southern Russia’s Rostov region has been extinguished two weeks after a Ukrainian drone strike set it off, Russian state media reported Monday, citing emergency services.
Ukraine’s military claimed responsibility for the Aug. 18 attack on the Kavkaz oil and petroleum storage facility in the town of Proletarsk, saying it supplied fuel to the Russian military.
The strike sparked a huge blaze covering 10,000 square meters, injuring dozens of firefighters and destroying dozens of the site’s 74 fuel tanks.
“The fire has been extinguished,” an emergency source told the TASS news agency, adding that firefighters remained on site to monitor for potential flare-ups due to strong winds.
Kavkaz was one of three oil depots managed by Russia’s Federal Agency for State Reserves hit by Ukrainian drones last month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the strikes, calling them part of the effort to bring a “just end” to the conflict.
Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, Kyiv has repeatedly targeted Russian oil and gas facilities, describing the attacks as fair retaliation for Russia’s strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
