A drone attack launched by Ukraine hit strategic energy facilities in Russia during the night of March 23, causing fires at an oil terminal in Primorsk and in a refinery in Ufa, authorities from both countries confirmed. These events reflect an intensification of attacks on key infrastructures in the context of the war
.The governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, reported that a fuel tank was hit in the port of Primorsk, which sparked a fire. However, reports based on satellite images indicate that the damage could have been greater, with several tanks engulfed in flames and dense plumes of smoke visible over
the complex.Primorsk, located about 50 kilometers from the border with the European Union (Finland), is the main export port for Russian oil in the Baltic Sea and handles nearly 60 million tons of crude oil per year. After the attack, oil cargo operations were suspended on the night of March 22 and remained interrupted at noon the next day, which could temporarily affect export flows
.The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed that the objective of the attack were energy installations considered key to sustaining the Russian war effort. In addition to Primorsk, the Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim refinery in Ufa, located about 1,400 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, was also hit. According to Kiev, the impact caused a fire at the plant, which has a processing capacity of between 6 and 8 million tons per year.
Ukrainian authorities maintain that these infrastructures play a central role in financing the war, by generating revenues from oil exports. In that sense, they justified the attacks as part of their strategy to weaken Russian operational capacity
