One of Russia's largest oil refineries at Salavat in the Urals was set ablaze by Ukrainian drones that had flown almost 1,000 miles east from Ukraine. File photo courtesy Russian Emergencies Ministry/EPA-EFE
Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Ukrainian drones flew almost 1,000 miles into Russian territory to hit one of the country's largest oil refineries on Wednesday, the second time the facility has been attacked in the past week.
The Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, operation set the Neftekhim Salavat plant in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan ablaze after it was struck by multiple drones, according to SBU sources cited by the state-run news agency Ukrinform.
Footage circulating online showed large columns of thick, black smoke billowing from the site, with the BBC saying it had used satellite mapping and reverse image searches to verify that the images in the two separate videos were genuine.
Radiy Khabirov, Bashkortostan regional governor, confirmed on social media that Ukrainian drones had struck the Gazprom Neftekhim refinery.
