Russian firefighters have reportedly put out a blaze after five days at an oil site which supplies an air base for Vladimir Putin’s nuclear bomber fleet.
Regional governor Roman Busargin said the open-air fireplace at the Volga region site, which he did not identify, went out overnight, but rescue personnel remained at the site 24 hours a day.
“The paintings continue,” he said, specifying what extra moves were needed.
Ukrainian drones reportedly attacked an oil depot on January 8 at the commercial plant in the city of Engels, causing a huge fire that killed two firefighters and prompted Mr. Busargin to declare a state of emergency.
Russia announced on Monday that it had shot down nine Ukrainian drones that were to attack a part of the infrastructure of the TurkStream pipeline, through which Russian fuel flows to Turkey and Europe.
The Russian defence ministry said the attack was aimed against a compressor station in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia, but the facility was working normally and there were no casualties.
Russian troops have taken the village of Pishchane in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the official TASS news firm reported on Monday, citing the Defense Ministry.
Neither of the claims could be independently verified.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 78 of 110 Russian drones introduced in a night strike on Monday, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
He said 31 drones had been “lost,” referring to kyiv’s electronic warfare to redirect them. The Air Force also said that drone debris destroyed several advertising and residential buildings in four regions of Ukraine in central, northern and southeastern Ukraine.
The use of drones in Putin’s war has increased significantly, and military experts say they could now have more impact on the battlefield than soldiers.
Ukraine has developed drones capable of flying more than 900 miles to hit targets deep inside Russia.
kyiv’s technical experts are also capable of “spoofing” Russian drones to attack targets.
kyiv and Moscow have been targets of drone attacks, and recently a drone factory in the Rostov region was attacked.
In London, the Ministry of Defence said Russia had launched about 1,700 “kamikaze” drones in December against Ukraine, down from some 2,300 in November.
“This was the first time that a decline in numbers has been seen since March to April 2024,” the MoD said in its latest intelligence update.
“Weather conditions most likely affected operations in the previous month, as evidenced by several nights of waves of over a hundred OWA UAS (One Way Attack Uncrewed Aerial Systems) following periods of low or no activity. “
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that 53% of Russian OWA UAS were shot down, while the rest were dismantled using electronic warfare or had already deviated from their trajectory, posing a significant threat, the Defense Ministry added. Defense.
It did not highlight successful Russian drone attacks but stressed that Putin’s regime was “likely” to be able to sustain the number of drones launched “in excess of at least 1,500 per month”.
Britain, the US, Ukraine and its other allies are fighting an information war against Putin’s regime so their briefings need to be treated with caution but are far more believable than the propaganda put out by the Kremlin.
MORE ABOUT