“Our region is again under attack by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles,” Anokhin wrote on Telegram around 5 a.m. local time, adding that Russian air defenses were responding to the situation.
The drone attack targeted “civilian fuel and power facilities” and caused several fires in Smolensky and Yartsevsky districts, according to the official. Firefighters are extinguishing the fire, Anokhin said, urging residents to remain calm.
The Smolensk region is about 300 kilometers southeast of Moscow and borders Belarus. The distance from the city of Smolensk to the border with Ukraine is 400 kilometers.
Ukraine attempted to bomb another undisclosed oil facility in Smolensk last week. The drones were shot down, but debris fell on an oil and lubricant storage unit, causing a small fire, according to Anokhin.
On Saturday, Russian air defenses intercepted several Ukrainian drone attacks in the western part of the country, destroying about 50 unmanned aerial vehicles over the border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk, and also deeper into Russia, in the regions from Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga and Moscow. .
Since January, Ukraine has launched a series of long-range attacks against Russian energy facilities, including oil depots and refineries, using kamikaze drones. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has suggested that the attacks are aimed at impressing kyiv’s Western supporters to compensate for the lack of progress on the front.
The Washington Post reported Monday that US Vice President Kamala Harris met privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February and told him to refrain from attacking oil refineries. Russian. President Joe Biden’s administration reportedly believes such attacks could drive up global energy prices and provoke massive Russian retaliation.
According to the media outlet, the Ukrainian head of state “ignored the recommendation.” Even as the United States became increasingly insistent over the following weeks, kyiv doubled down on its strategy.