Ukraine launches drone offensive in Crimea and inside Russia

Ukraine launches drone offensive in Crimea and inside Russia

Fuel shortages acute on the Crimean peninsula in wake of Ukraine attacks

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Ukrainian drones knocked out power in the biggest city in Russian-held Crimea on Wednesday and targeted facilities ‌in central and southern Russia, local officials said, underscoring the reach of Kyiv's attacks on energy infrastructure.

Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian oil refineries, depots and supply routes this year, pushing up gasoline prices in Russia, where authorities have limited sales in some regions.

Fuel shortages have been particularly acute on the Crimean peninsula. The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol this week ​mandated early closing for public transport and cafés and said street lights would be dimmed to protect the city during overnight attacks.

Ukraine keeps striking Russian refineries and supply routes. How close is the country to an energy crisis?

On Wednesday he said the latest wave had downed power supplies and that trolley buses would ​not operate and parents should keep children at home.

Work was ongoing to restore supplies even though ⁠Kyiv was "trying to deprive us ⁠of our normal living conditions and sow panic," Mikhail ‌Razvozhayev said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 following street protests that forced Ukraine's pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, from power. Few countries recognize the annexation and Kyiv has vowed to take back the territory.

Ukraine's drone forces commander Robert Brovdi said drones had hit the main substation at the Sevastopol power plant in Crimea.

In the central Russian ⁠region of Nizhny Novgorod, Gov. Gleb Nikitin said falling Ukrainian drone debris damaged an industrial facility and killed two people.

The unspecified facility was not damaged critically, he said. The region is home to NORSI, Russia's fourth-largest oil refinery, one of many large oil plants in ‌central Russia that temporarily halted or scaled back output in May in the wake of drone attacks, Reuters has reported.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences had shot down 323 drones overnight in regions across the country.

Authorities in Russia's Orenburg region, more than 1,000 kilometres southeast of Moscow and near the border of Kazakhstan, said drones had been downed over ​an industrial facility.

Ukraine's military struck Orenburg ‌gas processing plant and ​Russia's only ​helium plant, both in ​a complex in ⁠the ⁠Russian ‌region of Orenburg overnight, ⁠the Ukrainian military's General Staff ‌said on Wednesday.

A fire was recorded ​at ⁠the sites ⁠and ⁠the ⁠extent ​of the damage was ​being ⁠assessed, the General Staff ⁠said.

Ukraine has ⁠said its strategy of targeting Russian energy facilities with long-range drones is aimed at sapping a key source of Russia's war ⁠funds ⁠and showing Russians the four-year-old conflict launched by Moscow ​is no longer distant.

Moscow's oil refinery will be offline for at least six months after suffering extensive damage in Ukrainian drone attacks, ​two industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday, complicating Russian ​efforts to tackle fuel shortages across the world's largest country.

The refinery, located on the southern outskirts of the Russian ​capital, is the largest fuel supplier to the ⁠Moscow region. It was ⁠hit twice this month ‌by Ukrainian drones, forcing it to halt operations.

"It will take at least half a year to repair," one of the sources said of the damage.

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Faced ​with a fuel ⁠crunch, Russia is considering a diesel export ban, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday. The Vedomosti newspaper, meanwhile, reported that fuel imports were being considered to tackle shortages, especially in Crimea, where sales of gasoline ⁠to the public ‌have been suspended.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused Kyiv of trying to destabilize his country's society and said his government would ​implement additional measures to offset the ⁠consequences of the strikes.

Both sides say they do not target civilians, but thousands of civilians have been killed in both countries.

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In Russia's border Belgorod region, a man was killed and a woman was injured in a drone attack, while in the eastern Ukrainian city of Balakliia, Russian shelling killed one person on Wednesday, local authorities said.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have taken control of the village of Ivolzhanske in Ukraine's Sumy region, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

Reuters could not independently verify the ⁠details of the latest strikes or battlefield advances.