Russia says fire erupts in Volgograd after Ukrainian drone strike on oil refinery

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) — Fire broke out in southern Russia on Saturday after an alleged Ukrainian drone struck an oil refinery, followed by an explosion, a local official said.

According to a statement by Volgograd's regional Governor Andrey Bocharov, the attack caused no casualties.

In a separate statement, the local office of the country's Emergency Ministry said the blaze was prevented from spreading further than 300 square meters (3,230 square feet).

The Defense Ministry said separately that overnight drone attacks had been foiled in three regions — 13 in Belgorod, one in Rostov bordering Ukraine, and two in Volgograd.

Ukraine also reported explosions in a total of four areas in the Poltava and Zhitomir regions and in the cities of Kharkiv and Kriviy Rih.

An online air raid tracker showed that alarms had sounded in the Poltava, Kirovograd, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Dnipro, and Odesa regions.

Local authorities did not comment on the situation.

Russia launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine in February 2022.