Ukrainian Drone Successfully Hits Russia's Third Largest Oil Refinery, 1,300 Km From Frontline

Taneco oil refinery complex. (Source: Tatneft.ru)

JAKARTA - A Ukrainian drone attacked Russia's third-largest oil refinery on Tuesday about 1,300 km (800 miles) from the front line, hitting a unit processing about 155,000 barrels of crude oil per day, while industry sources said it did not cause serious damage.

Russian officials say their vandal device is locking a Ukrainian drone near Tanneft's Taneco refinery, which has an annual production capacity of more than 17 million tons (340,000 barrels per day).

Images from the scene show the drone hit a major distillation unit, CDU-7, at a refinery in Russia's advanced Tatarstan industrial area, although it does not appear to cause any serious damage.

Industry sources, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said workers had returned to the factory, as quoted April 3.

The fire broke out at the refinery but could be extinguished within 20 minutes, state news agency RIA said, adding that production was not disrupted.

The affected units accounted for about half of the factory's total annual production capacity. The refinery accounts for about 6.2 percent of Russia's distillation capacity.

Meanwhile, military intelligence sources in Ukraine said Taneco's main distillation unit had been attacked and caused a fire. The purpose of the attack, the source added, was to reduce Russian oil revenue.

Another Ukrainian intelligence source said Ukrainian-made drones also attacked Russian factories that produce long-range attack drones "Shahed", causing "magnitude damage".

Ukraine has in recent months started attacking Russian oil refineries, the world's second-largest oil exporter, which has an impact on the trading of Moscow's highly profitable processed products, amid extensive Russian missile attacks against Ukraine's energy grid.

According to a Reuters tally, about 14 percent of Russia's distillation capacity has been closed due to drone strikes. There is more demand for processed oil products than Russian crude oil.

On the other hand, attacks on Russian oil refineries, mostly within the world's largest country, have raised concerns in Washington about potential escalation with Russia.

Ukraine says drone attacks on Russia can be justified as the country struggles to survive and has suffered severe damage to its infrastructure, including power plants, as a result of Russian airstrikes.

President Vladimir Putin's allies said on Tuesday NATO was basically battling Russia in Ukraine and that the US-led military alliance had helped regulate attacks on Russia's sovereign territories.

When asked if Russia thought the United States was involved in the attack on Russian oil refineries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday the questions should be raised to the defense ministry and security services.

"The Kyiv regime continues its terrorist activities," Peskov said.

"We and our military are basically trying to minimize this threat, and then eliminate it," he said.

Ukrainian sources said Kyiv was responsible for planning and carrying out drone strikes within Russian territory. The United States itself has repeatedly said it does not support Ukrainian attacks within Russian territory.