Drones ignite tensions: Fires erupt at Russian facilities
On the night of Tuesday into Wednesday, during a large-scale drone attack on Russia, drones targeted a "nuclear energy facility" in Smolensk and a refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region. A significant fire broke out.
The drone attack was reported by the region's governor, Vasily Anokhin. According to his information, the drone was shot down, "there are no casualties or damages."
The remains of the downed drone reportedly fell near the Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), located in the southern part of the region near the city of Desnogorsk. This plant is the largest energy producer in the region, supplying about 90% of the region's electricity.
The refinery in Kstovo is on fire
In the Nizhny Novgorod region, which also experienced drone attacks, the remains of the downed drone fell on the site of "one of the plants in the Kstovo industrial zone," which initiated a fire, as noted by the region's governor, Gleb Nikitin.
"Firefighters are currently working to extinguish the fire; according to preliminary data, there are no casualties," he stated on his Telegram channel.
The Shot channel reports that the drones aimed at a local refinery owned by Lukoil, one of Russia's largest oil processing plants. This is another attack on this facility. Previously, a firefighting train was deployed to manage the fire, and the damage was severe enough to halt refinery operations for two months.
The second-largest attack this year
Information from the Russian Ministry of Defence indicates that on the previous night, air defence forces intercepted and destroyed 104 drones over nine regions of Russia.
47 drones were intercepted over the Kursk region, 27 over Bryansk, 11 over Smolensk, seven over Tver, four over Belgorod, and three over Nizhny Novgorod. Three additional drones were intercepted over the Kaluga region, with one each over Rostov and Leningrad.
This was the second-largest drone attack on Russia since the beginning of the year. On January 24, Russian regions were targeted by 121 Ukrainian drones, and on January 11, by 85. The most significant attack occurred on September 1 of the previous year when 158 drones targeted Russia.
