MOSCOW, July 8 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s overnight drone attacks on Russia killed one person and damaged numerous industrial sites and two empty oil tankers, local authorities said on Wednesday, as Ukraine’s campaign against Russian energy infrastructure rages on.
The governor of Russia’s Saratov region, Roman Busargin, said on Telegram that one person was killed, civilian industrial sites were damaged and several people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack.
In the Volga riverside region of Tatarstan, local media cited the governor’s press service as saying that Ukrainian drones had caused damage to targets in the city of Nizhnekamsk, inflicting casualties.
The reports did not specify the targets, but Nizhnekamsk is home to a major oil refinery, and is close to drone factories in the nearby town of Alabuga.
Russia has been suffering from acute fuel shortages in some regions, as Ukrainian drone strikes against its oil refineries have ramped up, with Kyiv hitting targets ever further from its own territory.
In the southern Rostov region, Governor Yury Slyusar said on Telegram that two tankers were damaged in the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of Azov. He said the vessels, which were en route to Rostov-on-Don, were empty and that two people had been injured.
The Ukrainian military confirmed the strikes, but said that it had hit nine such tankers in the Sea of Azov.
The Sea of Azov is a key supply route for Russian forces in Crimea and other Russian-controlled parts of southern Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry said it downed 415 Ukrainian drones in the past 12 hours.
Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during the war, now in its fifth year, causing widespread power outages and wintertime heating shortages.
An overnight missile strike on Kyiv killed at least one person.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Michael Perry and Sharon Singleton)
