Janice R. Andrews
In a sharp turn of events, Ukrainian security services have acknowledged planning a drone strike during the night on a crucial oil refinery in the town of Tuapse in southern Russia. For the past two months, Kyiv has increased its attacks on Russian oil and gas installations, claiming that this is “fair” reprisal for earlier Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.
Located around 240 kilometres southeast of the Crimean peninsula, which Russia has annexed, the Tuapse refinery is considered a vital facility for the enemy. Last night, after two very strong explosions, a large fire broke out, seriously damaging the main oil processing facility, particularly the vacuum and atmospheric columns.
Images from the midnight attack on social media showed the Rosneft-owned refinery engulfed in massive columns of smoke and flames. Thankfully, preliminary indications indicate that there were no casualties from the incident. The Tuapse district chief, Sergei Boiko, verified that around one hundred people and thirty-one pieces of equipment were sent to fight the fire, which was effectively put out at five in the morning.
This attack follows a string of attacks by Ukraine on Russian energy infrastructure, which included a massive fire at a depot in western Russia last Friday. In response to Moscow’s allegations that 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war perished in the downing of a Russian military aircraft, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has opened a criminal inquiry into the incident.
Notably, Kiev has declined to acknowledge that it was involved in the downing of a military transport plane on Wednesday over the western Belgorod region of Russia, which is near the Ukrainian border. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has demanded an international investigation into the incident, highlighting the difficulties in gathering information because of its location on Russian territory.
Regarding Russia’s allegation that Ukrainian forces shot down the aircraft while exchanging prisoners, the SBU’s criminal investigation seeks to investigate possible “violations of the laws and customs of war.” Zelensky issued a warning, pointing out that the fact that the disaster happened on Russian territory would make it more difficult for Ukraine to obtain information about it. As both countries deal with the fallout from these most recent events, the situation is still tense.
