On the night of February 24, Ukrainian drones attacked the Ryazan region.
As a result of the strike, a fire broke out at one of the local enterprises, according to the region’s governor, Pavel Malkov.
"According to preliminary information, there are no casualties, and material damage is being assessed. Emergency services are working at the scene," he wrote on Telegram.
According to Mash and Shot, the target of the drones was the Ryazan oil refinery (NPZ), where a series of loud explosions led to a massive fire.
This marks the third attack on the refinery in a month. The first strike occurred on January 24. At the time, sources cited by Reuters reported that the fire broke out at the railway fuel loading rack, igniting a 20,000-ton storage tank and other facilities. As a result, the refinery was forced to temporarily suspend shipments. Just two days later, on January 26, drones attacked the facility again.
The head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council, Andrii Kovalenko, stated that the
"Ryazan refinery is being systematically targeted" because it produces fuel for Russian military equipment.
The refinery, with an annual capacity of 13.7 million tons of oil, is owned by Rosneft and is one of the largest in Russia, accounting for 5% of the country's total oil refining.
In February, authorities in Ryazan organized an "aerial religious procession" to protect the city from Ukrainian drone strikes. During the event, a plane carrying Orthodox priests flew over the city with the "Sign" icon of the Mother of God, relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. George the Victorious, as well as fragments of the True Cross. Clergy from the Theological Monastery and representatives of the "military clergy" of the regional diocese conducted a prayer service in the air, asking for divine protection against aerial attacks.
Since September 2023, Ukraine has carried out around 100 strikes on oil refineries and fuel depots in Russia.
These attacks serve a strategic purpose: to weaken Russia’s economic and military potential. Primarily, they aim to reduce revenue from oil product exports, one of the key sources of funding for Russia’s war against Ukraine. Additionally, the strikes create fuel shortages for military equipment and logistics, complicating the supply chain for the Russian army.
