Russian officials report fire at oil refinery after Ukraine targeted border areas with dozens of drones

Authorities in Russia’s Rostov region on Thursday reported a fire at an oil refinery following strikes by several dozen Ukrainian aerial drones.

Rostov’s acting governor Yuri Slyusar said on Telegram that the fire broke out at the Novoshakhtinsk refinery and was later extinguished. Slyusar said one person was injured in the attack.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it destroyed 36 Ukrainian drones over Rostov, part of a total of 84 drones that were shot down mostly in areas bordering Ukraine.

Other interceptions took place over Bryansk, Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Tambov and Krasnodar, the ministry said.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that Ukrainian drone strikes had damaged several residential buildings.

Ukraine’s military said on Thursday that its air defense forces had shot down 85 Russian drones used in overnight strikes targeting Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnitsky, Kirovohrad, Kiev, Mykolaiv, Poltava and Sumy regions. 45 killed.

The military also said Russian missiles damaged residential buildings and municipal property in Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy.

Dnipropetrovsk governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram that damaged areas included a school and a hospital in Kryvyi Rih.

Some information for this story came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.