Flames and smoke were seen rising from an oil depot in Bryansk, Bryansk Region, Russia, on Wednesday, as reported by Reuters.
Ukraine reportedly launched missile strikes on a southern Russian port on the Azov Sea and triggered a fire at an oil depot in the western Bryansk region using drones, according to officials and various media sources. The extent of the damage and the specific weapons used in the port attack remain unclear. However, Russia has repeatedly warned that Ukraine's use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles across the border signifies direct Western involvement and could escalate the conflict into a broader war.
Kyiv claims that its attacks on Russian energy facilities are in response to previous strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, which have severely impacted Ukraine's energy grid, reducing its generating capacity by about half and causing widespread blackouts. Russia's defence ministry stated that its air defence units intercepted 14 Ukrainian drones over Bryansk, which borders Ukraine. Regional governor Alexander Bogomaz confirmed on Telegram that an unspecified production facility briefly caught fire.
Ukraine's military claimed responsibility for causing a massive fire at an oil depot, while Russian independent media outlet ASTRA reported that a refinery was hit, with flames visible in the sky. The Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which transports oil from Western Siberia and the Caspian Sea to Europe, runs through Bryansk, as does the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS) leading to the Baltic Sea. Kazakhstan's pipeline operator, Kaztransoil, confirmed that the Druzhba pipeline remained undamaged, citing Russian authorities who stated that an industrial facility caught fire with no threat to oil supplies from Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan plans to ship 130,000 metric tonnes of oil to Germany in December via the Druzhba pipeline, in addition to the 1.358 million tons already sent this year. A Ukrainian industry source noted that the overnight attack on a Bryansk depot did not disrupt oil transit to Europe through Ukraine. Approximately 750 km south, Ukrainian missiles struck Taganrog port, damaging an industrial facility and 14 cars, according to acting governor of Rostov region Yuri Slyusar. Reuters could not independently verify these reports.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, millions displaced, and the most significant crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The war is entering what some Russian and Western officials believe could be its final, most dangerous phase, as Moscow's forces advance at their fastest pace since the early weeks of the conflict. Ukraine utilized US-supplied ATACMS missiles in November, with permission from then-outgoing US President Joe Biden, to strike into Russian territory. In response, Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Since then, Russia claims to have shot down at least 15 ATACMS missiles.
The damaged area of Taganrog, a city of about 250,000 people on Russia's Black Sea coast near the border with Ukraine, has been cordoned off by police, according to the city's head, Svetlana Kambulova. The attack partially damaged a boiler building, cutting off heat to 27 apartment buildings. Russia has an air base near Taganrog, from which military analysts say its air force operates drones, bombers, and other weapons to attack Ukraine.
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