Ukrainian drone strike torches oil storage depot in southern Russia

Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Ukraine struck deep inside Russian territory Friday, targeting the country's energy infrastructure for the second day in a row with a drone strike that set an oil depot ablaze in the Bryansk region in the Southeast.

Russian officials blamed Ukraine for the attack near the town of Klintsy 60 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border with domestic media reporting fires in four oil tanks initially affected had spread, engulfing a 10,000 square-foot area, but no injuries.

Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said air defenses disabled the drone, one of three targeted at the area, with electronic jamming but its munitions fell on the depot forcing nearby residents from their homes. The other two were shot down.

"Four oil tanks are burning in Klintsy. For safety reasons, 32 residents were temporarily evacuated to relatives. A temporary accommodation center has been prepared," Bogomaz

Authorities dispatched 13 fire trucks with 140 firefighters to the scene to battle the blaze.

Acknowledging responsibility for the attack, Ukraine said it was "fair" retaliation for a wave of Russian missile and attack drone strikes on its civilian infrastructure in recent weeks, most recently a large-scale missile attack Saturday, a Jan. 8 assault on provincial Ukrainian cities and villages that killed four people and injured at least 38 and a Jan. 2 onslaught against Kyiv and Kharkiv that killed at least six people and injured more than 130.

Another Ukrainian retaliatory attack Thursday targeted a major oil loading terminal hundreds of miles inside Russia in St. Petersburg, the country's second-largest city.

Ukraine's Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin claimed the drone hit its target but Russian reports suggested it was shot down without causing damage.

A source at Ukraine's intelligence directorate told local media the military planned to mount more attacks to take advantage of the fact most of Russia's air defense and electronic warfare systems had been redeployed to occupied areas of Ukraine, the BBC reported.