May 21 (Reuters) – Ukrainian drones attacked the Syzran refinery owned by Rosneft in the Samara region overnight, the military and President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.
“Ukraine has imposed additional long-term sanctions on Russian refineries and we will continue to take this action,” Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app.
“This time, it’s the Syzran refinery – more than 800 kilometers from our border.”
Zelensky posted video of the fire and smoke billowing into the sky.
The local governor said a drone attack on the town of Syzran in the Samara region killed two people, but did not mention whether any infrastructure was damaged in the attack.
Ukraine’s unmanned systems force said the attack caused a fire at the refinery, which has an annual processing capacity of 7 to 8.9 million tons of crude oil.
Robert Brovdy, commander of the Ukrainian drone force, said this was the 11th Russian oil refinery that Ukraine had attacked in May.
(Reporting by Anna Pluchnica; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Thomas Janowski)