The Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region of Russia caught fire on Friday morning after a drone attack, writes TASS citing sources in the local rescue service.
The fire, which covered an area of 60 square metres, has already been contained, a TASS source says. No casualties have been recorded, the Russian emergency ministry’s main directorate stated.
Ilsky, the settlement where the oil refinery is located, is just 30 km from regional capital Krasnodar.
This is the second drone strike carried out against the Ilsky refinery in two days. The first attack happened overnight on Thursday and led to a diesel oil tank catching fire. On the same day, a drone hit the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, the largest in southern Russia, causing minor damage. On 4 May, governor of the Voronezh region also reported that a drone had been taken down in the region.
State news agency RIA Novosti reports, citing emergency services, that the fire at the Ilsky oil refinery was caused by “spontaneous combustion of the initial fire point” remaining after yesterday’s attack.
In the early hours of 4 May, Russia attacked Kyiv and Odesa with kamikaze drones. Ukraine reported taking down 18 out of 24 Iranian Shahed drones. An air raid alert was declared overnight in several Ukrainian regions, including Kyiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa regions.