Ukrainian drones strike Russia’s Volgograd, igniting fires and causing oil spill at LUKOIL refinery
Ukraine launched a mass drone attack on Russia’s Volgograd region overnight on August 14, with an oil refinery in Volgograd among the targets. The strike triggered a spill of petroleum products and ignited fires.
The facility hit was likely the LUKOIL-Volgogradneftepererabotka refinery, where explosions were heard amid the drone attack, Russian outlet Astra reported.
The overnight assault on the Volgograd region began late on August 13. Around 23:00, Russia’s aviation regulator Rosaviatsia imposed restrictions on operations at the airport in the regional capital, Izvestia reported.
Soon after, OSINT analysts reported explosions in Volgograd near the refinery owned by LUKOIL - one of Russia’s largest oil companies and considered the country’s second-biggest crude producer.
Videos of the nighttime attack on Volgograd also circulated online.
Local authorities confirmed strikes on the city, including on an oil-processing facility, but did not specify whether it was the LUKOIL-owned plant.
“As a result of falling debris, a spill and fire involving petroleum products occurred at the Volgograd oil refinery,” Governor Andrey Bocharov said.
He said the Volgograd region came under a mass drone attack overnight. The fires were sparked by falling UAV debris, Bocharov added.
Fire crews are working at the scene. There were no immediate reports of casualties or other consequences in Volgograd at the time of publication.
Elsewhere, overnight on August 14, explosions were reported in several areas of temporarily occupied Crimea amid the threat of drone and missile attacks.
Also overnight on August 13, drones targeted a key station of the Druzhba oil pipeline in Russia’s Bryansk region.