Moscow: ready to launch massive attacks on Ukraine’s energy sectors
Overnight, Ukrainian forces targeted a major oil refinery in the Leningrad Oblast, in north-western Russia, and an airbase in the Krasnodar Territory
Russia is preparing for “massive attacks” on Ukrainian energy facilities in response to Kyiv’s raids on civilian sites, according to senior Kremlin officials, reports the Tass news agency.
Meanwhile, CIA Director John Ratcliffe proposed a trilateral meeting between Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Moscow earlier this week. This was reported to Axios by two sources. Ratcliffe’s visit, the sources added, was also aimed at ascertaining whether the heads of the Russian intelligence services could help persuade Putin to resume negotiations with Ukraine under US mediation.
Overnight, Ukrainian forces targeted a major oil refinery in the Leningrad Oblast, in north-western Russia, and an airbase in the Krasnodar Krai, according to The Kyiv Independent. According to reports from the Telegram channel Exilenova Plus, one of Russia’s largest oil refineries (the Kirishi Petroleum Organic Synthesis plant, also known as the Kinef plant) was set alight after being attacked by Ukrainian forces in the Leningrad Oblast.
The facility is subject to Western sanctions against Russia imposed by Ukraine’s allies, including measures imposed by the United States. The governor of the Leningrad Oblast, Aleksandr Drozdenko, confirmed that ‘a drone crash was reported near a refinery in the Kirishi district, resulting in a fire’, whilst 42 drones were shot down in the region. Meanwhile, an airbase was struck in the town of Yeysk, in the Krasnodar Krai region of Russia, where eyewitnesses reported a series of loud explosions.
