Russian media reported that Ukraine is targeting Russian oil pipeline facilities with drone attacks

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Ukraine bombed oil pipeline facilities deep inside Russia on Saturday in a series of drone attacks, Russian media reported, including a terminal serving the massive Druzhba oil pipeline that sends West Siberian crude to Europe.

Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia have escalated in recent weeks, and The New York Times reported that US intelligence believes Ukraine was behind a drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month.

Ukraine has not publicly acknowledged carrying out attacks against targets inside Russia. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Kommersant newspaper said that in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, two drones attacked a station serving the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline, one of the world’s largest oil pipelines.

The Tver local council said a drone had crashed near the village of Erokhino, about 500 km from the border with Ukraine.

The Baza channel on Telegram, which is well-sourced among the Russian security services, said the drones attacked a station serving the Druzhba pipeline.

Druzhba, built by the Soviet Union, has the capacity to pump more than 2 million barrels a day, but it has gone largely unused as Europe sought to reduce its dependence on Russian energy after President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine last year.

Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft said earlier this month that a filling point in Druzhba, in a Russian region on the border with Ukraine, had been attacked.

Local governor Mikhail Vedernikov said two drones caused an explosion in the Pskov region in western Russia, destroying the oil pipeline’s administrative building. The accident occurred near the village of Litvinovo, less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Russia’s border with Belarus.

“Temporarily the building was damaged as a result of two drone strikes,” Vedernikov said.

He said there were no injuries and an operations group providing final results was working at the scene.

In a separate incident, a construction worker was killed near the border with Ukraine in the Kursk region due to shelling from Ukraine, the local governor said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the reported attacks.

Written by Alexander Marrow in London and Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow Editing by Frances Kerry

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