Drone attack on Russian fuel terminal reportedly organized by Ukraine’s Security Service

On January 21, a fuel terminal owned by Russian natural gas company Novatek caught on fire at the Ust Luga port, reports the Leningrad region’s governor Alexander Drozdenko.

Russian state news agency TASS wrote that two tanks and a pumping station were damaged in the fire. The governor said no one was injured and that the fire was localized.

According to Ukrainian media outlets RBC Ukraine, Ukrainska Pravda, and Hromadske’s sources, Ukraine’s Security Service organized a drone attack on the terminal.

One of Hromadske’s sources said that the terminal was hit in a precise strike, which resulted in a large fire. The source added that this attack will significantly complicate fuel logistics for the Russian military. RBC Ukraine’s source reported that the terminal was an “important facility,” where fuel used by Russian troops is processed.

Referencing sources in special services, Ukrainska Pravda and RBC Ukraine said that drones also attacked the Shcheglovskiy Val plant in Tula, a city in Russia, on January 21. RBC Ukraine added that Shcheglovskiy Val manufactures Pantsir-S and Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems. Military targets in Russia’s Oryol and Smolensk regions were also reportedly hit. The outlets’ sources said these attacks were “planned” by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate. Local authorities didn’t comment on reports of the Shcheglovskiy Val attack.