Kyiv: Ukrainian forces struck three Russian military planes and three helicopters at an airfield in Russia’s Rostov region during an overnight operation that also targeted an oil refinery, President Volodymyr Zelensky reported on Thursday.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) carried out a “precise” strike on the military airfield, hitting one An-12 aircraft, two An-26 planes, and three helicopters, Zelensky said in a social media post.
The An-12 and An-26 are Soviet-designed military transport planes used to carry personnel and cargo.
Zelensky also said the Yaroslavl oil refinery was struck in a joint operation involving the SBU, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF), the military intelligence agency (HUR), and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU).
“There are also good results in the Black Sea,” Zelensky said, without elaborating.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian military facilities and oil infrastructure in an effort to disrupt Moscow’s battlefield logistics and reduce revenue used to finance its invasion.
“I thank our warriors who make the war tangible for Russia every day. Every day, we respond to aggression. Russia must choose peace,” Zelensky said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian forces launched a massive drone and missile attack on several Russian regions, hitting a Rosneft-owned oil refinery in the Samara region and other industrial facilities.
The Samara region was targeted by more than 40 drones, according to regional Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev.
“Damage was sustained by one of the industrial facilities as well as several residential buildings,” he wrote on Telegram, adding that there were no casualties.
According to the Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+, the Rosneft-owned Syzran Oil Refinery was among the targets.
The facility has an annual crude oil processing capacity of about 8.5 million tons and produces approximately 800,000 tons of gasoline and 1.5 million tons of diesel fuel annually.
Following the attack, storage tanks containing petroleum products caught fire at the facility. The refinery was previously struck by drones on Aug. 4.
