A Ukrainian drone barrage killed at least four people in the city of Ryazan, local officials said Friday, while media reports and satellite images suggested that a nearby oil refinery was set ablaze.
Ryazan region Governor Pavel Malkov confirmed the deaths in posts on Telegram, adding that a dozen other people, including children, were wounded in the attack. He said drones struck two apartment buildings and an industrial site, which he did not identify by name.
Videos shared on social media showed at least one badly damaged high-rise residential building in Ryazan engulfed in smoke and flames.
Other images captured huge columns of smoke and large flames rising above what appeared to be the Rosneft-operated Ryazan Oil Refinery, located just south of the city. One of Russia’s largest fuel plants, the facility processes about 17 million tons of crude oil each year.
As thick black smoke engulfed the sky, NASA satellite imagery tracked the plume extending more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) into the neighboring Tambov region.
