(Bloomberg) — A flurry of Ukrainian drones attacked southern Russia on Sunday, forcing a small independent refinery in Krasnodar to halt operations.
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Six drones struck the Slavyansk facility overnight with no casualties reported, the local administration said in a statement on its website.
The refinery halted its operations to conduct checks and it isn’t yet clear when it can resume running, RBC reported, citing the head of security at Slavyansk-Eko, the refinery’s operator. Ukraine hasn’t commented on the incident.
The refinery, which processes 4 million tons of crude per year, or around 80,000 barrels a day, was already a target of drone attacks in March and April.
Russia’s defense ministry said it shot down 61 Ukrainian drones and nine ATACMS missiles overnight, targeted mostly at the Krasnodar region.
The US has criticized Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries as creating a risk to crude oil prices and urged Kyiv to focus on military targets instead.
“Those attacks could have a knock-on effect in terms of the global energy situation,” US Defense Secretarly Lloyd Austin said last week at a Senate committee hearing. “Ukraine is better served in going after tactical and operational targets that can directly influence the current fight.”
Read more: Russia’s Crude Exports Fall Back as Flows From the Baltic Shrink
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