Ukrainian forces struck three oil depots and a fuel facility in Russia’s Stavropol region on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed, following a major Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv that killed at least six people and injured 16 others. The strikes also targeted three Russian “shadow fleet” tankers in the Black Sea, escalating a week of intensified cross-border attacks.
Russian ballistic missile barrage on Kyiv
Ukrainian authorities described Sunday’s assault on the capital as the largest ballistic missile attack of the war, involving “around four dozen” missiles. Fires broke out in five districts, damaging residential buildings, offices, industrial sites, a dormitory, and vehicles. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it the highest single-day missile count since the invasion began.
The attack came a day after Ukrainian drone strikes killed at least nine people at warehouses linked to Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries, which Kyiv accuses of supplying military equipment.
Ukraine targets Russian energy infrastructure
Zelensky stated that Ukrainian Security Service units hit three oil depots in Stavropol, while army units struck another fuel facility in the same region. Local governor Vladimir Vladimirov acknowledged drone-caused fires at “industrial facilities” but reported no injuries. Russian media, citing local footage, suggested three oil depots were ablaze.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have downed 140 Ukrainian drones overnight across eight regions, Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas, though it did not specify how many reached their targets.
Broader escalation in Black Sea and beyond
A strike on two oil tankers at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk halted loadings, with no casualties or spills reported. The CPC pipeline, a critical route for Kazakh crude, accounts for 80% of the country’s oil exports. Both Russia and Ukraine have increased attacks on Black Sea shipping, with Kyiv targeting vessels it claims violate sanctions by transporting Russian oil.
Meanwhile, Russian forces claimed to have captured the village of Vilne in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, though independent analysts like the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) dismissed the claim as part of Moscow’s “cognitive warfare” effort, noting no confirmed advances.
In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported over 400 Ukrainian drones launched at the capital overnight, with 85 intercepted. Fires were reported at an oil depot in Podolsk, a residential building in Domodedovo, and a logistics warehouse.
