July 25 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian drone strike sparked a fire at the Tyumen refinery in western Siberia, but the blaze was later extinguished, local Russian authorities said on Saturday.
The attack on a facility more than 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Ukraine underscores the increasing reach of Kyiv’s long-range drone campaign against Russian energy infrastructure.
Tyumen regional Governor Alexander Moor, writing on Telegram, said the fire had been extinguished without causing any casualties. He provided no further details.
Any disruption to output would further squeeze the domestic fuel market, which has seen worsening shortages since May, when Ukraine stepped up attacks on oil refineries in an attempt to undermine Russia’s war efforts.
The refinery has a nominal capacity of around 8 million metric tons per year. It processes roughly 6 million tons of crude annually, producing about 0.5 million tons of gasoline and 2.5 million tons of diesel, according to industry estimates.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Ron Popeski, Rod Nickel)
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