Ukraine was behind an attack that sparked a huge inferno at an oil depot in western Russia on Friday, a source in the Ukrainian security services told AFP.
The strike is the second on a Russian oil depot in as many days after Kyiv claimed another attack on an oil storage facility in St. Petersburg on Thursday.
Kyiv has targeted Russian oil and gas infrastructure throughout the almost two-year conflict, attacks they argue are retaliation for strikes on Ukrainian territory.
Friday’s attack targeted a depot in the western Bryansk region town of Klintsy, around 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The strike was an operation carried out by the main intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, a Ukrainian security source confirmed to AFP, without elaborating.
Video shared on social media showed a large cloud of black smoke billowing over the Klintsy facility following the attack, which Russian officials said was a drone strike.
Russia said it shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Bryansk region, but before it was intercepted it managed to drop “munitions” on the depot, sparking the fire.
There were no casualties, but 13 fire trucks were deployed to battle the flames, Bryansk region Governor Alexander Bogomaz said.
Bogomaz said 32 residents of a nearby residential area were evacuated to temporary shelters.
State experts were monitoring for air quality as four storage tanks with oil products continued to burn in Klintsy, he added.
The Kommersant business daily identified the burning oil depot as a Bryansknefteprodukt terminal, which is owned by the Russian oil giant Rosneft.
On Thursday, Ukraine claimed responsibility for a rare drone attack over the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg, both of which are several hundred kilometers from the border with Ukraine.