Ukraine attacked Russia’s Samara region with drones overnight on October 2. Local residents reported explosions near Samara on social media.
According to Astra, which geolocated eyewitness footage, the target of the Ukrainian strike was the Samara Line Production and Dispatch Station (LPDS). It is Russia’s largest oil transportation and distribution hub and is owned by Transneft.
The facility covers more than 216 hectares and contains 71 storage tanks with a total capacity of more than 1.6 million cubic metres of oil.
Four major oil pipelines converge at the facility: Almetyevsk–Kuibyshev, Kaltasy–Kuibyshev, Nizhnevartovsk–Kurgan–Kuibyshev and Guryev–Kuibyshev.
The Samara LPDS therefore receives oil from Western Siberia, Tatarstan, Orenburg and Kazakhstan for further transportation.
Drones operated by the Alpha Special Operations Centre, together with the Unmanned Systems Forces, Special Operations Forces and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, struck the Samara Line Production and Dispatch Station, as well as the Samara-1 and Samara-2 pumping stations near the settlement of Prosvet.
Fires were reported at the facilities following the strikes.
