(Updated: )
Editor's Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Multiple drones targeted an oil refinery near the city of Volgograd in southern Russia in the early hours of Feb. 15, Russian Telegram channels reported.
Local residents reported hearing over 15 explosions during a drone attack, according to the Telegram channel Shot. The reports claimed that the drones were headed towards an oil refinery in the Krasnoarmeysky district of the city.
Following reports of explosions, the Telegram channel Astra reported that a drone struck a multistory residential building in Volgograd. Local residents said that security forces had cordoned off the site.
Volgograd Oblast Governor Andrey Bocharov later confirmed that an attack had taken place and said one man was "slightly injured" following the strike on the residential building.
Drones also caused a fire "on the territory of the industrial zone," Bocharov claimed. He did not specify which facility had sustained damage.
During the night, multiple drone attacks were reported throughout Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Feb. 15 that 40 drones had been shot down over Volgograd, Kaluga, Saratov, and Rostov oblasts.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.
The Volgograd refinery, owned by Russian oil giant Lukoil, was recently struck by Ukrainian drones in an attack on Jan. 31, according to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces. The facility has been targeted multiple times throughout the full-scale war.
Ukraine considers Russian oil facilities to be valid military targets, as fossil fuel profits supply Moscow's war machine. The Ukrainian military has launched repeated attacks against Russian refineries with long-range drones.
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