Ukrainian drones damage Russian oil refineries

Ukraine struck Russian oil refineries in a second day of heavy drone attacks on Wednesday, causing a fire at Rosneft’s biggest refinery in what President Vladimir Putin said was an attempt to disrupt his country’s presidential election this week. Russia and Ukraine have both used drones to strike critical infrastructure, military installations and troop concentrations in their more than two-year war, with Kyiv stepping up attacks on Russian refineries and energy facilities in recent months. A day after seriously damaging Lukoil’s (LKOH.MM), opens new tab NORSI refinery in Nizhny Novgorod, Ukrainian drone attacks hit refineries in the Rostov and Ryazan regions, Russian officials said. In Ryazan 180 kms (110 miles) from Moscow, a drone attack caused a fire at Rosneft’s (ROSN.MM), opens new tab refinery, Russia’s seventh largest and there were initial reports of injuries, governor Pavel Malkov said. In a later update he said the fire had been extinguished. Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that the refinery had been forced to shut down two primary oil refining units. Rosneft did not reply to a request for comment. In Rostov, there were no casualties but the Novoshakhtinsk refinery was forced to halt operations and damage was being assessed, regional governor Vasily Golubev said. A Ukrainian source told Reuters the drone attacks were conducted by Ukraine’s SBU security service. “We are systematically implementing a detailed, calculated strategy to reduce Russia’s economic potential,” the source said. Ukrainian defence forces, the source added, also conducted overnight drone attacks on a Russian airbase in Buturlinovka and a military airfield in Voronezh region. Strikes on oil refineries – a key source of Russia’s income – have the potential to reduce the country’s output of gasoline and diesel and push up prices. Russia imposed a six-month ban on gasoline exports on March 1. Putin, in remarks published on Wednesday, accused Kyiv