Ukrainian drone attack damages Russian oil pipeline installation

Europe, News May 28, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Ukraine struck Russia’s oil pipeline installation with a series of drone attacks on May 27, 2023. The drone attack was carried out in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, targeting the Druzhba pipeline, one of the world’s largest oil pipelines.

According to the regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov, the explosion occurred near the village of Litvinovo, not far from the border with Latvia and Belarus.

Without mentioning where the attacking drones came from, Vedernikov said that no casualties were reported during the attack. “Provisionally, the building was damaged as a result of an attack by two unmanned aerial vehicles,” he said.

Some independent sources reported that the attack was conducted at the Transneft oil pumping station using two Kamikaze drones.

Ukraine has intensified Kamikaze drone attacks on Russian installations in recent times, including a drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month. Kyiv has not publicly acknowledged responsibility for any of the recent drone attacks in Russia. Ukraine claims that its forces are solely working on defending Ukrainian territories and do not carry out attacks beyond the Russian border.

The Druzhba pipeline was built by the Soviet Union in 1964. It has the capacity to pump more than 2 million barrels per day. Before the Russia-Ukraine war, the Druzhba pipeline served as one of the main routes for Russian oil to make its way into Europe. However, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the pipeline has been severely under-utilized due to Europe’s reduced dependency on Russian energy products.

*^{Ukraine displays Bayraktar TB2 drones and military equipment in March 2019. (Image Credit: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine)}*

Meanwhile, another attack was reported in Russia’s Belgorod region. The regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov claims that Ukrainian shelling in the Kursk region resulted in one death while at least three people were injured. Gladkov said that a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were injured as a result of Ukrainian shelling while a construction worker was killed near the border with Ukraine.

At its daily briefing on the Ukraine war, Russia’s defense ministry said it had destroyed 12 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours and intercepted two long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

Britain delivered multiple units of Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine this month, becoming the first country to supply long-range cruise missiles to Kyiv. The Storm Shadow missiles have a range of 250 kilometers.

The Russian defense ministry also claimed that the Russian military intercepted shorter-range U.S.-built HIMARS and HARM missiles. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry or Foreign Ministry did not release a response to any of the claims. Kyiv has previously said that Western-supplied weapons would be used exclusively against Russian forces inside Ukraine.