Russia says oil refinery damaged in drone attack

MOSCOW/KYIV — Russia's Slavyansk oil refinery, located in the Krasnodar region, was damaged after a weekend drone attack, state-run TASS reported on Monday, citing a company security official.

Six drones crashed into the territory of the oil refinery in Slavyansk in the early hours of Sunday, according to local officials. Interfax news agency reported the refinery halted work after the attack.

"There is damage. Its scale and size will be determined," TASS quoted the security official, Eduard Trudnev, as saying on Monday.

Slavyansk refinery is a private plant with a capacity of about 100,000 barrels per day. It supplies fuel for both domestic use as well as export.

Russia said on Sunday that Ukraine launched a 62-drone attack on Russian regions, including the one that forced the oil refinery in southern Russia to halt operations. Kyiv's forces had fired US, French and Ukrainian missiles at Russian-held territory. Russia shot down at least 103 drones, including 62 over Russian regions.

A Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters in Kyiv that Ukraine's security service SBU and military drones struck the refinery and a military airfield in Russia's southern Krasnodar region in overnight attacks.

In Belgorod, Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the Ukrainian military shelled areas of Russia's southern Belgorod region on Sunday, injuring at least 13 people and damaging dwellings.

Russia has reported a rise in Ukrainian attacks on its territory since its forces opened a new front in northeastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region earlier this month.

In the latest development on the Kharkiv front, Russia struck a busy lakeside resort on the edge of Ukraine's second-largest city on Sunday and also attacked villages in the surrounding region, killing at least 11 people and wounding scores more.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky again called on Western allies to supply Kyiv with additional air defense systems to protect Kharkiv and other cities.

Agencies Via Xinhua