Drones target Russian energy facilities: explosions rock Volgograd again

On the night of February 3, drones attacked fuel and energy facilities in the Astrakhan and Volgograd regions of Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry announced the alleged destruction of 70 drones, in particular over the Volgograd, Astrakhan, and Voronezh regions.

The Russian telegram channels, Reuters and the governor of the Astrakhan region, Igor Babushkin, reported this.

Initially, there was no official information about the attack, but the Russian Defense Ministry later announced the alleged repelling of another UAV attack.

The governor of the Astrakhan region, Babushkin, reported that Ukraine's armed forces attempted to target facilities in the region, including fuel and energy sites, using drones.

"As a result of the fall of one of the drones, a fire broke out; there were no injuries," he wrote.

Although Babushkin did not specify which facility was affected, the Baza Telegram channel, associated with Russian special services, reported an attack on a gas processing plant near Astrakhan.

Russian aviation also suspended flights at Astrakhan, Kazan, Nizhny Kama, Saratov, Ulyanovsk, Vladikavkaz, Grozny and Makhachkala airports.

Similar restrictions were imposed at the Volgograd airport, where explosions at the oil refinery were also reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that out of 70 drones, 25 were allegedly shot down over the Volgograd region.

Warning: foul language!

Volgograd Governor Andrey Bocharov reported that local fires erupted at the refinery, allegedly due to debris from fallen drones. Additionally, there were lighting issues in some areas of Volgograd.

Drones probably targeted the Lukoil oil refinery. It should be noted that on January 31, it was already under attack by Ukrainian drones.

According to Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, the strikes on Russian oil refineries are aimed at stopping the production of fuel that supplies the Russian army.

"It is important that the Volgograd refinery stops producing gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, and aviation fuel that it supplies to the Russian army," Kovalenko said.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed 70 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight, of which:

• 25 over the Volgograd region,
• 27 over the Rostov region,
• 7 over the Astrakhan region.

The Volgograd refinery, which was recently attacked, is one of the largest in Russia, with a processing capacity of about 14 million tons of oil annually.

For reference:

On the night of January 14, the Ukrainian Defense Forces carried out the most massive strike on the military facilities of the Russian army at a distance of 200 to 1,100 km deep into Russian territory. In particular, targets in the Bryansk, Saratov, Tula regions, and the Republic of Tatarstan were attacked.