Ukraine Strikes Oil Depot at Heart of Russian-Occupied Territory

Ukraine said it successfully attacked a warehouse containing fuel used by Russia’s military located in the partially occupied Luhansk oblast, as locals posted video of the fiery aftermath of the strike.

Ukraine’s General Staff said on Saturday that it had struck a depot containing fuel and oil in the city of Rovenky in the Luhansk oblast, which is one of four Ukrainian regions Vladimir Putin has claimed to have annexed but which is not fully controlled by Moscow.

“At the base were stored oil and petroleum products which were supplied for the needs of the army of the Russian Federation,” the General Staff said in a Facebook post on Saturday, adding that the strike was carried out by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Department and other parts of the country’s military.

“Previously, this oil depot had already been hit by Ukrainian weapons,” added the post, according to a translation, “combat work to undermine the military-economic potential of Russia continues.”

The statement did not specify which munitions were used but pro-Ukrainian social media channels said that it had been targeted by Ukrainian kamikaze drones, next to video which purported to show efforts to extinguish the facility as it burned.

The site is roughly 80 miles from the frontline in Ukraine. There were no immediate official comments or statements from the local occupying authorities and Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.

“Ukraine also made an important strike at night, with another hit on an oil depot in the occupied part of the country,” posted journalist Tim White on X, adding, “The nearer the strikes to the frontline, the bigger #Russia’s problem.”

“Ukrainian General Staff confirmed a strike on an oil depot in Russian-occupied Rovenky, Luhansk region. Locals post videos of a large fire after the strike,” Anton Gerashchenko, former adviser to Ukraine’s internal affairs minister, said, sharing videos.

The pro-Ukrainian Euromaidan Press reported that the depot “holds strategic importance due to its location, as it serves as a key hub for supplying Russian military operations in eastern Ukraine.”

Kyiv has continued its ongoing strikes on Russian infrastructure using drones and missiles in a campaign which is aimed at hurting Vladimir Putin’s military machine.

A fire has raged for days following a strike on October 7 on the largest oil terminal in occupied Crimea, with satellite images showing thick plumes of black smoke coming out of the site in Feodosia.

The strike has caused a fuel shortage on the peninsula, requiring Russian forces to set up mobile fuel locations, according to the partisan group ATESH.

“This situation shows that the destruction of objects of this scale critically affects both the supply of troops and the performance of combat missions of the (Russian) Armed Forces,” it said in a Telegram post.

The local news outlet Crimean Wind posted on Telegram video of the explosion of another tank at the oil depot on Friday night noting that experts have said “it is impossible to extinguish such a fire until it burns out itself.”