In Russia’s Tyumen Region, Ukrainian drones attacked a local oil refinery, according to the region’s governor, Alexander Moor.
He stated that the attack had been repelled and that, according to preliminary information, the refinery had not been damaged. The regional office of Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that a fire covering an area of 100 square metres had been extinguished.
Local residents reported several explosions; videos posted on Telegram channels show a plume of smoke rising from the direction of the refinery. The Russian publication Astra also noted that smoke was rising above the Tyumen refinery.
It was previously reported that a state of emergency had been declared in the Tyumen Region, as well as in the neighbouring regions of Kurgan, Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk. Restrictions on departures and arrivals have been imposed at Tyumen’s Roshchino Airport.
The Tyumen Oil Refinery (formerly the Antipinsky Oil Refinery) is the largest independent oil refinery in Russia and the only industrial oil refinery in the Ural Federal District, according to Forbes. The distance from Tyumen to the border with Ukraine is around two thousand kilometres.
Sergei Sternenko, an adviser to the Minister of Defence, noted that the plant’s design capacity is between 7.5 and 9 million tonnes of crude oil per year.
“In fact, this is a record-breaking strike range for Ukrainian ‘Deep Strike’ drones,” he commented on the attack.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has not yet commented on the attack.
The Ukrainian military regularly carries out strikes against Russian oil industry facilities. At the end of May, Reuters reported that, due to attacks by Ukrainian drones, almost all major oil refineries in central Russia had been forced to halt or reduce production.
Residents of the Belgorod and Ryazan regions, the Krasnodar Krai and many other regions of Russia had previously complained about shortages of petrol and diesel at filling stations. Restrictions on fuel sales have been introduced in many regions. In particular, there have been reports of petrol purchase limits at the largest petrol station chains in Moscow.