April 30 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, said on Thursday its drones struck an oil refinery deep into Russia near the city of Perm, marking a second consecutive attack on oil facilities in the area as Kyiv seeks to curb Moscow’s energy revenues used to fund the war.
The Ukrainian military also reported that it had hit another refinery in southern Russia’s Orenburg region.
The Lukoil-owned refinery in Perm, located more than 1,500 km (900 miles) from Ukraine, is one of the largest in Russia and has the capacity of nearly 13 million metric tons per year, the SBU said.
Lukoil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to preliminary information, the strike hit a key facility for primary oil processing at the refinery, effectively putting the unit out of action, the SBU said.
It added that it again struck an oil pumping station in the area, which provides oil supply to the refinery. The station was attacked overnight on Wednesday and Thursday’s attack caused new pockets of fire, it said.
The strike in Orenburg, reported by the military’s general staff, said the military hit a refinery in the city of Orsk in southern Orenburg region, triggering a fire.
Orenburg region is also about 1,500 km from Ukraine.
“The Orsknefteorgsintez oil refinery (Orsk in Orenburg region) was hit,” the General staff said in a statement on Facebook.
“A strike was recorded, followed by a fire on the territory of the enterprise. The facility is involved in supplying the Russian occupation army.”
Ukraine has intensified its attacks in Russia, designed to disrupt Russia’s oil industry and slash revenue that helps Moscow fund the war in Ukraine, as global prices rose amid the Iran war and sanctions were eased on Moscow.
Russia has for months attacks targets linked to Ukraine’s energy system, knocking out power and heating to many thousands of people in cities during the winter months.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Alex Richardson, Louise Heavens and Alistair Bell)
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