On the night of February 11, Ukrainian drones launched a massive attack on Saratov region. One of the targets was an industrial facility in Saratov, which sustained damage, according to regional governor Roman Busargin. He stated that emergency services were working at potential crash sites and that no casualties had been reported.
The attacked facility was the Saratov Oil Refinery. According to open sources, this is one of Russia's oldest oil refineries, formerly known as the Kreking plant, and is part of the Rosneft oil company. Local residents reported explosions and a fire at the plant in the Zavodskoy district of the city. A previous drone strike on January 14 also caused a fire at the refinery.
Drones also targeted another city in Saratov region—Engels, as reported by Shot. Locals heard loud explosions and what sounded like automatic gunfire around 4 a.m. near the city's military airfield. Engels, located across the Volga River from Saratov, is home to a Russian strategic aviation base from which Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers regularly take off to launch cruise missile strikes on Ukraine.
On January 14, Ukrainian drones also attempted to strike the airbase, igniting a fire at the Kristall fuel depot, which supplies the strategic bombers. The fire burned for five days, killing two emergency service workers. The fuel depot had previously been hit on January 8 and also caught fire after the attack.
The head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the NSDC, Andriy Kovalenko, confirmed the attack on the oil refinery in Saratov.
"Saratov Oil Refinery was attacked. This is not the first attack. The refinery is one of the key facilities of Russia's fuel infrastructure, with a processing capacity of up to 7 million tons of oil per year," he stated.
