(Bloomberg) — Ukraine’s forces struck a crude oil processing unit at a Bashneft refinery in Ufa, Bashkortostan, with drones early Saturday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The giant complex, part of the Rosneft energy group, is located about 1,750 kilometers (1,090 miles) from Kyiv and about 1,200 km east of Moscow.
It was the third strike this year at that location, according to the person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
Rosneft PJSC’s Bashneft unit has three oil processing facilities in Ufa — the Novoil, Ufimsky and Ufaneftekhim refineries — with a total processing capacity of 23.5 million tons of oil per year, according to company’s website. It’s unclear which of the three refineries was hit.
Bloomberg wasn’t able to independently verify the attack and its impact, and Rosneft didn’t immediately respond to a WhatsApp message seeking a comment outside of normal business hours.
Social media posts showed smoke billowing from the area of the complex. Ufa’s airport suspended operations for a time on Saturday.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on the Russian oil industry and has already launched at least 28 attacks on Russian oil refineries since the start of August — many of them far from the nations’ border. Russian fuel making has slumped as a result, increasing concerns about the availability of supplies.
Saturday’s strike followed recent Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, including the electricity grid and gas infrastructure in the capital, Kyiv, southern Odesa and central cities of Dnipro and Poltava.
Those strikes have caused significant power and water cuts for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. As of midday Saturday most of the supply chains have been restored, the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said on Telegram.
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