Ukraine launches a fierce attack with dozens of drones on Russian territory and a massive fire breaks out at one of the most important oil refineries

A Ukrainian drone attack set fire to an oil refinery in southern Russia, forcing it to halt operations, a Russian regional governor said Thursday morning, adding that there were no casualties.

Dozens of emergency personnel rushed to put out the fire at the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in the Rostov-on-Don region, according to Governor Vasily Golubev.

Golubev wrote on Telegram, “After a drone strike, a huge fire broke out at the Novoshakhtinsk refinery… Work was halted due to repeated attacks, as workers were pulled to a safe distance,” he said.

He later explained that the fire had been located in an area of about 100 square meters, and no one was reported killed or injured.

The Novoshakhtinsk refinery in the Rostov-on-Don region is one of the most important oil refineries in southern Russia, but its location 10 kilometers from the Ukrainian border always makes it vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks.

Representatives from Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations and the regional emergency office went to the scene of the fire, Golubev said.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said another drone strike destroyed an oil tank overnight in Stary Oskol, north of the Ukrainian border.

He added that the fire was quickly extinguished but no injuries were recorded.

Ukraine’s military also said on Thursday the air force had shot down 17 of the 18 Shahed drones launched by Russia into four regions in an overnight attack.

The governor of the Khmelnitsky region said the Russian attack caused a fire at an infrastructure facility where a drone was shot down.

Local authorities did not report casualties and emergency teams worked to put out the blaze on Thursday morning.

Ukraine’s military shot down eight drones over the Mykolaiv region in the south of the country, with no reports of damage from the local governor.

Ukrainian air defenses also shot down drones that flew over the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.

Russian forces also used two Iskandar-M ballistic missiles to attack the Dnepropetrovsk region, the military said.

There were no immediate details of damage from the rocket attack.