(Reuters) – A Ukrainian drone strike sparked a fire at an oil depot in the Kamensky district of Russia’s southern Rostov region, its governor said on Wednesday, confirming media reports that several tanks were on fire.
“There are no injuries,” the governor, Vasily Golubev, said on the Telegram messaging app. “Firefighters are putting out the fire.”
Russian air defense units destroyed four drones over the V region overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said, without mentioning an attack on the depot.
Earlier, the Baza Telegram channel, which is close to Russia’s security services, said that three tanks burned at the Kamensky oil depot after two drones fell on the area.
Videos posted on Russian social media showed what appeared to be large tanks burning at night. Reuters was able to identify one of the videos as located in Rostov’s Kamensky district.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
A fuel storage depot in the Kamensky district was also attacked in early August.
The attack comes as tanks were still burning at another oil depot in Rostov’s Proletarsk district, about 10 days after a Ukrainian attack, Russian Telegram channels said.
Alexander Gusev, the governor of Voronezh, which borders Ukraine, said debris from a Ukrainian drone over the region sparked a fire “near explosive objects”. But there was no detonation, he added.
The fire was out, Gusev said on Telegram, and residents returned home in two settlements from which they had been evacuated.
The Russian Defense Ministry said eight attack drones were destroyed over the Voronezh region, but did not provide details.
Russian officials often do not disclose the full extent of the damage inflicted by Ukrainian attacks.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in the 30-month-old war that was sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour. Kiev says its airstrikes are aimed at destroying energy, transport and military infrastructure that are key to Moscow’s war effort.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Stephen Coates and Clarence Fernandez)