A huge fire rises from an oil depot in Engels, Russia, after a Ukrainian drone strike overnight into Wednesday. AKamyshin/X
CNN | Published January 8, 2025
Ukrainian drones struck deep inside Russia in an overnight attack targeting an oil facility serving a military airfield in the city of Engels, nearly 400 miles from the border, Ukraine’s military said Wednesday.
Ukrainian officials reported a huge fire at the Kombinat Kristall oil depot, which provides fuel to the Engels-2 military airfield in the Saratov region, where Russia’s strategic bomber fleet is located.
Images geolocated by CNN showed large balls of flames lighting up the night sky and plumes of smoke continuing to billow from the site on Wednesday morning.
“The destruction of the oil depot raises major logistic challenges for the strategic aviation of the Russian occupiers and significantly reduces their ability to strike at peaceful Ukrainian cities and civilian objects,” Ukraine’s military said.
Long-range drone strikes have played a prominent role over nearly three years of war between Russia and Ukraine. As land warfare has become more attritional, Kyiv has increasingly taken the battle to the skies and enjoyed considerable success, seeking to disrupt Russian logistics, damage its weapons stockpiles and set its oil facilities ablaze.
Wednesday’s attack is not the first time Ukraine has targeted Saratov, the main city of which lies more than 600 kilometers (375 miles) from the Ukrainian border, although Russian air defenses had mostly thwarted previous attacks.
Regional governor Roman Busargin confirmed that the cities of Saratov and Engels suffered a “massive” drone attack overnight, which he said had caused damage at an industrial site. Ukraine’s military said this site was the oil depot at the Engels-2 airfield.
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SOURCE: www.edition.cnn.com
RELATED: Ukraine claims attack on oil depot serving air base for Russian nuclear bombers
This handout satellite image released and collected by Maxar Technologies on December 5, 2022 shows an overview of Engels Airbase, in Russia which is home to a strategic bomber military base. (AFP)
ENGLISH AL ARABIYA | Published January 8, 2025
Ukraine launched an overnight strike deep inside Russia that set fire to an oil depot in the city of Engels that serves an air base for Russian nuclear bomber planes, the Ukrainian military said on Wednesday.
The governor of the Russian region said Engels and Saratov, on opposite sides of the Volga river, had been subject to a “mass drone attack” and there was a fire at an industrial site, which he did not name. He said there was no word of any casualties.
The Ukrainian military reported multiple explosions and a big fire at the “Kristal” oil depot, which it said provided fuel to the “Engels-2” military airfield.
The strike “creates serious logistical problems for the strategic aviation of the Russian occupiers and significantly reduces their ability to strike at peaceful Ukrainian cities and civilian objects,” it said in a statement on Telegram.
Ukraine deployed “long-range capabilities” in the attack, presidential adviser Oleksandr Kamyshin posted on X.
He used the hashtag #MadeInUkraine to signal that the weapons used were not supplied by the West.
In an escalation of the nearly three-year-old war, Ukraine last year began firing US ATACMS ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadows into Russia, and Russia responded by launching a new hypersonic missile, the Oreshnik, at Ukraine.
The Kremlin has pledged to retaliate each time Ukraine fires long-range Western weapons into Russia.
Russian news reports also said the fire in Engels was at an oil facility. Videos and photos published on social media showed a large fire burning with orange flames, sending thick clouds of smoke into the night sky. Reuters was able to verify the location in an industrial zone of Engels, based on satellite imagery.
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SOURCE: www.english.alarabiya.net
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