Russian oil storage tanks were ablaze overnight after being hit in a drone attack, according to Russian officials, and Ukrainian forces reportedly shot down 10 drones that Russia launched overnight.
Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the oil tank attack in the town of Azov, located in Russian’s southern Rostov region. However, Kyiv has carried out similar strikes before, and has said in the past that targeting Russia's energy infrastructure hurts Moscow's war effort.
"According to preliminary data, there are no casualties," Rostov governor Vasily Golubev wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia’s emergency services ministry said 200 firefighters were sent to battle the blaze, which had spread to more than 3,200 square meters.
The Rostov region is directly across the border from Ukraine. Azov is on the Don River about 16 kilometers from the Sea of Azov.
Russian drone attack
Ukraine’s air force said it destroyed 10 drones that Russia launched overnight. The drones were hit over Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military also said troops were fighting Russian forces on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, in the country’s eastern Donetsk region.
"The enemy keeps trying to advance to the micro-district Novy, in the town of Chasiv Yar," Ukraine's military said in a briefing, adding that fighting was "currently taking place."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address that troops on the front lines were making strides against Russian forces. He said he had received reports from “Pokrovsk and other directions in the Donetsk region, as well as the Kharkiv region. Our forces are gradually pushing the occupier out of the Kharkiv region.”
He also noted the importance of drones in the conflict.
“Drones are the technological component in which we should have an advantage. And we will. In some types of unmanned systems, Ukrainians are already a global leader,” he said. “This is also evident in our negotiations with our partners – many are interested in the experience our warriors already have and in the equipment we produce in Ukraine.”
Material from Reuters and Agence France-Presse was used in this report.
