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A Ukrainian drone attack triggered a blaze at an oil storage facility in Russia’s southern Volgograd region, officials said on Saturday, following a large-scale Russian assault that involved drones, missiles and a hypersonic weapon, disrupting electricity and heating supplies across parts of Ukraine.
Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov said there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. In a message shared via the regional administration’s Telegram channel, he noted that authorities were assessing the situation and that residents living close to the oil depot could be evacuated if required. Details on the extent of the damage were not provided.
Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed overnight strikes on the Zhutovskaya oil depot, saying the facility plays a role in fueling Russian military operations. In a statement, it said assessments were underway to determine the scale of the damage caused by the attack.
Kyiv has stepped up long-range drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure in recent months, targeting facilities that generate revenue critical to Moscow’s war effort. Russian forces, meanwhile, have intensified their attacks on Ukraine’s energy network, aiming to cripple power, heating and water supplies during winter — a strategy Ukrainian officials have described as an attempt to use the cold as a weapon against civilians.
The latest developments come a day after Russia launched one of its heaviest assaults of the war, firing hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, Ukrainian authorities said. At least four people were killed in Kyiv during the barrage.
Notably, Russia deployed a powerful new hypersonic missile in the attack on western Ukraine — only the second time such a weapon has been used since the war began nearly four years ago — widely seen as a signal to Ukraine’s Western backers, including NATO, as fighting continues to escalate.
The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further Moscow aggression if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said Friday’s attacks “have resulted in significant civilian casualties and deprived millions of Ukrainians of essential services, including electricity, heating and water at a time of acute humanitarian need.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said heat supply would be fully restored in Kyiv by the end of Saturday.
She said areas on the right bank of the Dnieper River would gradually lift emergency blackouts and return to scheduled outages. But resuming power supply on the left bank, where Russian attacks were concentrated, is more complicated due to significant damage to the power grid, she added.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said Saturday that its forces used aviation, drones, missiles and artillery to strike Ukrainian energy facilities and fuel-storage depots.
Russia struck Ukraine with 121 drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile, according to the Ukrainian air force. It said 94 drones were shot down.
Separately, the Russian Defence Ministry said 59 Ukrainian drones were neutralized overnight over Russia and occupied Crimea.
Ukraine’s military said that besides the oil depot in Volgograd, it had struck a drone storage facility belonging to a unit of Russia’s 19th Motor Rifle Division in Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, as well as a drone command and control point near the eastern city of Pokrovsk.
With inputs from agencies
