Fire breaks out at oil depot in Russia's Volgograd region after drone debris crash

By Alperen Aktas

ISTANBUL (AA) - A fire erupted at an oil depot in Russia’s southwestern Volgograd region after it was hit by debris from a Ukrainian drone, local authorities said on Saturday.

'Tonight, air defense units of the Russian Ministry of Defense repelled a terrorist attack by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Volgograd region. A fire was detected at an oil depot in the Oktyabrsky district as a result of the crash of UAV debris,' Governor Andrei Bocharov said on Telegram.

Bocharov said emergency services and firefighters were deployed to the scene to contain the blaze, adding that there were no preliminary reports of casualties.

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 59 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight.

According to the ministry, 11 UAVs were downed over the Black Sea, 10 over the Krasnodar region, eight over the Bryansk region, and six over the Lipetsk region.

Defenses also intercepted drones over the Kaluga, Voronezh, Smolensk, Tula, and Belgorod regions, as well as over the Sea of Azov and occupied Crimea.

The ministry later stated that an additional eight drones were destroyed between 7 and 9 am local time (0400GMT-0600GMT), including four over Crimea and three over the Kostroma region.

Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on Russia's claims, and independent verification is difficult due to the ongoing war.