Ukraine Targets Oil Refinery 2,000 Kilometers Inside Russia

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(Bloomberg) — Ukraine targeted the Tyumen oil refinery in Russia’s Ural region, about 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) from the Ukrainian border, extending Kyiv’s campaign against Russia’s energy infrastructure.

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Emergency crews were working at the site of the refinery where debris fell, with preliminary information indicating the plant wasn’t damaged and employees had been evacuated, Tyumen region governor Alexander Moor said in Telegram post. 

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The Tyumen refinery is one of Russia’s largest privately owned oil-processing plants. It can handle about 151,000 barrels of crude a day and is an important supplier of fuel to the domestic market.

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Kyiv has significantly stepped up attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure in recent months, with the Moscow refinery alone hit twice this week. Russia’s crude-processing rates have fallen to their lowest level in two decades so far in June, according to estimates by EA Analytics, part of industry consultant Energy Aspects Ltd. 

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Several southern Russian regions are experiencing gasoline shortages, authorities confirmed earlier this month. The attack on the capital this week also left Muscovites facing rising gasoline prices and fuel deficits.

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Ukraine has in the recent months started to regularly hit targets deep inside Russia, reaching as far as the Ural Mountains and communities where most people had regarded the war as a distant problem. 

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On Saturday, several airports in the Ural region temporarily suspended operations as air defenses repelled drone attacks. Drones were also reported in other Russian regions throughout the day, according to local authorities.

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Ukraine’s General Staff said Saturday its forces struck a road bridge across the Henichesk Strait used by Russian forces to supply troops from occupied Crimea, as well as a Pantsir-S air-defense system and several drone command posts in occupied parts of Ukraine and Russia’s Belgorod region.

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Russia also continued attacks across multiple Ukrainian regions on Saturday, with the heaviest casualties reported in the Zaporizhzhia, Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Two people were killed and 13 injured in the Kharkiv attacks, which included a Russian guided bomb striking a residential building in the city of Kharkiv. Ukraine military reported 99 drones overnight, of which 92 were intercepted.

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On the front line, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces continued offensive operations in Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, one of the key Ukrainian strongholds remaining in the eastern part of the country.

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Russian forces continue to exert constant pressure around Kostiantynivka, benefiting from a manpower advantage and showing little regard for losses, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said after visiting troops operating in the area late Friday. Ukrainian forces were conducting an active defense and inflicting significant losses on the enemy, he said.

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