Ukrainian drones strike Russian oil facilities and port
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Ukrainian drones have struck an oil refinery deep into Russia near the city of Perm, marking a second consecutive attack on oil facilities in the area as Kyiv seeks to curb Moscow’s energy revenues used to fund the war.
The Ukrainian military also reported that it had hit another refinery in southern Russia’s Orenburg region.
The Lukoil-owned refinery in Perm, located more than 1500km from Ukraine, is one of the largest in Russia and has the capacity of nearly 13 million metric tonnes per year, Ukraine’s Security Service said.
The military reported it hit a refinery in the city of Orsk in the Orenburg region, triggering a fire.
“A strike was recorded, followed by a fire on the territory of the enterprise. The facility is involved in supplying the Russian occupation army,” the General staff said in a statement.
The strikes follow a fresh Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Black Sea port of Tuapse, the fourth in the past week, sparking a fire at the sea terminal but no injuries, officials said.
Tuapse has come under repeated attack, particularly the port’s oil terminal.
The strikes have disrupted daily life, with authorities telling residents not to drink water and closing schools.
Separately, Ukraine’s top general ordered a mandatory two-month time limit for front-line troops serving in forward positions, a week after photos of emaciated soldiers on combat duty sparked an outcry across the country.
Oleksandr Syrskyi’s decree aims to address a key challenge for Kyiv’s outmanned military in the fifth year of the war with Russia, and comes amid frequent and often harrowing reports of Ukrainian soldiers serving for months at a time under fire.
In a statement, Syrskyi said the dominance of drones along the sprawling, 1200km front line has complicated battlefield logistics and “significantly transformed” the concept of combat operations.
“Commanders must ensure that conditions are in place for service personnel to remain at their posts for up to two months, followed by a mandatory rotation, which must take place within one month,” he said.
“Timely rotation is not only a matter of organising service, but a matter of preserving the lives of our soldiers and the stability of defence.”
Syrskyi’s order comes after relatives of troops from the 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade posted images of emaciated loved ones, alleging they had been left on the line for months without a steady supply of food or water.
In some cases, the troops had resorted to drinking rain water, they said.
Ukraine’s General Staff said last Friday it had fired the brigade and corps commanders over the case.
In his statement, Syrskyi said his decree included mandatory medical evaluations and the timely provision of food and ammunition for front-line troops.
The testimony from the 14th Brigade is the latest in a string of reports detailing months-long deployments of Ukrainian troops to forward positions.
A so-called “kill zone” spanning dozens of kilometres on both sides of the front has made troop rotations, resupply and evacuations exceedingly dangerous.
Speaking to Ukrainian media this week, military ombudsman Olha Reshetylova said severe logistical failures like that faced by the 14th Brigade were rare, but that long-term deployments to forward positions remain “a big problem”.
Ukraine’s military has suffered from a manpower shortage for most of the war, as enthusiasm for service has dwindled amid reports of poor training and support as well as heavy-handed draft officers.
Reuters