Ukrainian drones hit fuel storage area in central Russia

 

A woman walks past a building damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Dec. 12, 2024.

The governor of Russia’s central Oryol region said early Saturday that Ukranian drones had attacked a facility in the area that stores fuel, sparking a fire.

Andrei Klychkov said on the Telegram messaging app that the "mass attack" targeted an infrastructure site. He said some homes in the region had been damaged by fragments of downed drones.

Ukrainian military blogs posted video of a fire that they said was at a Russian fuel storage facility.

Other Russian regions also reported Ukrainian drone attacks, including Krasnodar, Bryansk and Belgorod.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian news outlets on Friday said Russian troops were closing in Pokrovsk, an eastern city that is considered a key logistical hub for the Ukrainian military.

The Kyiv Post and Kyiv Independent newspapers reported Friday that Russian troops control areas 5 kilometers or less from Pokrovsk, a city of about 60,000 in Ukraine\’s Donetsk region.

On the positive side for Ukraine, the Independent, citing the DeepState monitoring group that tracks the Russia-Ukraine war, reports that Ukrainian forces have resisted Russian assaults on several other Donetsk locales in recent days.

Earlier Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had launched one of the largest assaults to date on his nation\’s energy infrastructure, sending 93 missiles and nearly 200 attack drones against the nation.

A woman is lit by a passing car as she stands in a dark street during partial power cuts following a Russian attack on Ukrainian energy facilities, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 13, 2024.

In a report from his X social media account, Zelenskyy said Ukraine\’s air defenses managed to shoot down 81 of the missiles, including 11 cruise missiles shot down by Ukraine\’s F-16 fighter aircraft. The Ukrainian president said there was at least one North Korean missile used in the attack.

In his comments, Zelenskyy lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying of the attack, "This is Putin\’s \’peaceful\’ plan — to destroy everything. This is how he wants \’negotiations\’ — terrorizing millions of people." Zelenskyy also called for a strong reaction from world leaders: "a massive strike — a massive reaction. This is the only way to stop terror," he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the Russian military used long-range precision missiles and drones on “critically important fuel and energy facilities in Ukraine that ensure the functioning of the military industrial complex.”

It said the strike was in retaliation for a Ukrainian attack on a Russian air base on Wednesday.

Zelenskyy said he discussed the attack later Friday in a telephone call with Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

He said Stubb expressed his readiness to help enhance Ukraine\’s air defenses as well as Finland\’s strong support for "Ukraine\’s sovereign right to choose its own future without external interference, including our choice to join the EU and NATO."

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.

By：VOA