KYIV: Ukraine attacked Russian border regions with missiles and drones early on Wednesday, sparking a fire at an oil depot and damaging an "industrial facility", officials said. Two separate attacks targeted Russia's southern Rostov region and western Bryansk region, both of which have been hit by cross-border Ukrainian fire throughout Moscow's nearly three-year war. Videos purportedly taken in the Bryansk region showed a distant fireball illuminating the night sky over an urban area, while air raid sirens could be heard in footage from the southern Rostov region. Kyiv said it struck an oil depot being used to "supply the Russian occupation army" in the Bryansk region, while the governor of Russia's Rostov region said a Ukrainian missile attack damaged an "industrial enterprise" in the port city of Taganrog.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed "tangible blows against Russian targets last night" that he said would help bring the war to an end. In a post on Telegram he said Ukraine had hit "military facilities on the territory of Russia, as well as facilities of the fuel and energy complex, which is working for aggression against our state and people". Kyiv has ramped up strikes on Russian oil and gas facilities this year, curbing Moscow's energy industry and causing billions of dollars' worth of damage. The Ukrainian army said Russia was using the facility in Bryansk as a loading point for the Druzhba oil pipeline, a key supply route for Russian oil heading to much of central Europe. "A massive fire broke out," Ukraine's general staff said in a statement. It did not comment on the strike on the Rostov region.
The Russian governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, said that Ukraine had attacked a "production facility" with drones but that the blaze had since been extinguished. Refineries and oil depots are a huge driving force behind Russia's economy, with some facilities being given their own air defence systems to ward off attacks. Major companies have redirected oil to sites further away from Ukraine, as some Ukrainian drone strikes have reached hundreds of kilometres into Russian territory. Ukraine says its attacks are "fair" retaliation for Moscow's strikes on its own energy infrastructure that have cut power to millions of people.
Meanwhile, Russia said on Wednesday that it had recaptured two villages from Ukraine in the border region of Kursk, where Kyiv launched a major ground assault in August. Moscow was caught off guard when Kyiv began its incursion four months ago but has steadily clawed back territory, halting Ukraine's advance and rushing reinforcements to the region. Russian army units "liberated the settlements of Darino and Plyokhovo during the course of offensive operations", the Russian defence ministry said. Both villages are close to the Ukrainian border. Thousands of people have been evacuated from the Kursk region since Ukraine launched its incursion, while many others are trapped in Kyiv-held territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin replaced the governor of the Kursk region this month, saying it needed a "crisis" manager after residents voiced anger at the handling of the incursion. — AFP
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