Russian firefighters have reportedly put out a blaze after five days at an oil site which supplies an air base for Vladimir Putin’s nuclear bomber fleet.
Regional governor Roman Busargin said the “open burning” at the site in the Volga region, which he did not identify, had been extinguished overnight, but emergency workers remained in place around the clock.
“The work continues,” he said, without specifying what further actions were needed.
Ukrainian drones reportedly hit an oil depot on January 8 at the industrial plant in the city of Engels which ignited a huge blaze in which two firefighters died, and prompted Mr Busargin to declare a state of emergency.
Russia said on Monday it had downed nine Ukrainian drones that tried to attack part of the infrastructure of the TurkStream gas pipeline, through which Russian gas flows to Turkey and Europe.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the attack targeted a compressor station in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia, but the facility was operational and there were no casualties.
Russian troops have taken the village of Pishchane in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the official TASS news firm reported on Monday, mentioning the Defense Ministry.
None of the claims can be independently verified.
Ukraine’s air defences downed 78 out of 110 Russian drones launched in an overnight attack on Monday, the Ukrainian air force said.
He said 31 drones had been “lost,” referring to Kyiv’s electronic warfare to redirect them. The Air Force also said debris from the drones destroyed several advertising and residential buildings in four regions of Ukraine in the center, north and southeast.
The use of drones in Putin’s war has increased significantly, and military experts say they could now have more impact on the battlefield than soldiers.
Ukraine has developed drones capable of traveling more than 900 miles to hit targets deep in Russia.
Kyiv’s technical experts are also capable of “faking” Russian drones to attack targets.
Kyiv and Moscow have been targets of drone attacks, and recently a drone factory in the Rostov region was attacked.
In London, the Ministry of Defense said Russia had introduced about 1,700 “kamikaze” drones in December into Ukraine, up from 2,300 in November.
“This is the first time a decrease in figures has been observed between March and April 2024,” the Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence update.
“Weather issues most likely affected operations earlier this month, as evidenced by several nights of waves exceeding one hundred OWA UAS (One Way Attack Uncrewed Aerial Systems) following periods of low or no activity. ” .
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that 53% of Russian OWA UAS were shot down, while the rest were dismantled by electronic warfare or had already deviated from their trajectory, posing a significant threat, the Defense Ministry added. Defense.
He does not highlight the success of Russian drone strikes, but stresses that the Putin regime is “likely” to keep the number of drones introduced “beyond at least 1,500 per month”.
Britain, the United States, Ukraine and their other allies are waging a data war against the Putin regime, so their reports should be treated with caution, but they are more plausible than propaganda spread through the Kremlin.
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