A Ukrainian drone struck an oil pumping station 800 miles into Russian territory overnight, sending huge plumes of smoke billowing into the air.
Kyiv said on Sunday it had hit the Lazarevo station in Kirov, a region situated almost 500 miles north-east of Moscow.
Regional Governor Alexander Sokolov confirmed that drones had struck a ‘facility’, but insisted that there were no casualties as he called on locals to remain calm.
The attack on Kirov came as Ukraine claimed to have targeted a number of energy and industrial centres far beyond the front line.
Saratov, near the Kazakh border, was one of the nation’s targets with a governor confirming that a ‘civil infrastructure’ had been damaged in overnight strikes.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also said that his soldiers had taken aim at Russian fuel supplies in an X post on Sunday evening.
The Ukrainian leader shared a video of the aftermath of the strikes, which showed fires erupting and large clouds of smoke drifting into the sky over Russian territory.
Zelensky said: ‘During the night, our soldiers applied long-range sanctions against an oil refinery in Saratov, Russia.
A Ukrainian drone struck an oil pumping station some 800 miles into Russian territory overnight, sending huge plumes of smoke billowing into the air
Video footage posted by Volodymyr Zelensky showed the aftermath of Ukrainian attacks on Russia, though it remains unclear which exact strike the videos displayed
Zelensky said the strikes on Russia’s fuel supplies directly affect Vladimir Putin’s capacity to wage war
‘This is about 700km (430 miles) from the front line. There were also strikes in the Rostov and Kirov regions, as well as at a military base on the Caspian Sea coast.’
In an earlier post on X, Zelensky stressed that operations on Russia’s fuel supplies directly affect Vladimir Putin’s capacity to wage war.
He said: ‘This is what genuinely impacts Russia’s potential for aggression. Russia could have ended this war with peace long ago, but it continues to choose prolongation and escalation.’
Elsewhere, the town of Matveyev-Kurgan, in Rostov, was targeted by Ukrainian drones as officials introduced a state of emergency after a strike on an oil depot.
The town’s leader, Dina Alborova, revealed that a blaze sparked by the missile had spread across more than 4,000 sq yards and damaged shops and homes.
Russia, meanwhile, continued its targeting of Ukraine with 229 drones launched overnight. 212 of those were intercepted, according to officials.
A private delivery company’s warehouse in Dnipro was one of Russia’s targets. No employees were injured in the strike, but the ‘building burned down completely’, a spokesman said.
In recent days, countries neighbouring Ukraine have also been struck by drones alleged to have been sent by Moscow.
A block of flats in Galati, Romania, was hit in an incident which Ukraine insists proved that Russia ‘pose a real threat’ to Europe.
Two people required medical treatment and were taken to a local hospital while around 70 people were evacuated from the block as the fire was put out.
Romanian President Nicusor Dan said the drone was likely struck by Ukrainian air defences over Kyiv, altering its trajectory towards Galati.
In a post on X today, President Zelensky insisted that his military is trying to intercept all drones sent from Russia.
A block of flats in Galati, Romania, was struck by a Russian drone on Friday
He wrote: ‘We are trying to intercept all Russian drones, even when some of them are going in the direction of other countries, like Romania, Moldova, Poland, or the Baltic states. If we can’t, we immediately notify our partners and try to help them.
‘Russia uses drones to pressure Nato countries and gauge the reaction.
‘This is their typical message: Don’t help Ukraine. I think there should be a stronger response from a united Nato. Putin is comparing this reaction to what he saw in previous years.
‘And he is also testing air defenses of Nato countries bordering Russia or Belarus. Are they capable of intercepting all the missiles and drones?’
Putin said later in the day that he had only just been made aware of the incident in Romania, and demanded that the drone wreckage be sent to Russia for an ‘objective investigation’.
He also cited recent cases of Ukrainian drones straying into EU countries.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meanwhile once again rallied behind Ukraine, describing the Russian hit on Romania as a ‘serious violation’ of Nato airspace.
He added that the UK stands ‘shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine, with Romania, and with all our Nato allies in the face of continued Russian aggression’.
That support was echoed by a number of European leaders, including the French foreign minister, the US Ambassador to Nato and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
