A suspected Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at an industrial facility in western Siberia’s Khanty-Mansi autonomous district on Friday, local authorities said, in what appeared to be the first strike on energy infrastructure in Russia’s largest oil-producing region.
Governor Ruslan Kukharuk said an “industrial facility in the Surgut district” caught fire following the attack. The extent of the damage was still being assessed.
Residents identified the facility as the Surgut Condensate Stabilization Plant, according to the Ukrainian monitoring channel Supernova+. Eyewitness footage shared by the channel showed a large fire sending thick black smoke into the sky.
The plant, owned by Gazprom Pererabotka, is Russia’s largest facility for processing a mixture of crude oil and gas condensate, with a design capacity of 12 million metric tons per year. It produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gas and stabilized gas condensate.
Surgut lies around 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
Kukharuk had earlier warned of a drone threat in the region. Russia’s civil aviation authority imposed flight restrictions at airports in Surgut and Kogalym.
The Khanty-Mansi autonomous district, also known as Yugra, accounts for around 40% of Russia’s oil production. Authorities issued the region’s first drone alert on Sept. 9.
Days before that alert, regional officials began preparing measures to assist residents affected by potential strikes. The regional social development department proposed adding drone attacks to a list of emergencies that qualify victims for hot meals, food packages, clothing and other essential supplies.
Friday’s attack came after Ukraine said it was resuming strikes on Russian energy infrastructure following an “energy ceasefire” declared by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had failed to observe Trump’s energy ceasefire and had killed more than 100 civilians over the previous week.
On Thursday, Ukrainian forces struck the Ryazan oil refinery, Russia’s third-largest by processing capacity.
