An explosion rocked a thermal power plant in the Russian city Orenburg, the local Emergency Services Ministry reported on April 13.
As a result, a fire broke out at a substation in the morning, leaving many local residents without power. There were no casualties, and the fire has now been extinguished.
It took a force of 20 people to put out the fire, which covered 10 square meters. Russia's Unified Operational Dispatch Service blamed the fire on "a short circuit” at the transformer substation, Russian media reported.
Orenburg lies close to the border with Kazakhstan, around 1,700 kilometers from Kyiv and 1,200 kilometers from Moscow. The Russian Defense Ministry said it destroyed Ukrainian drones in the Rostov and Belgorod oblasts overnight but did not report on any drones in Orenburg Oblast.
A gas station owned by Russian energy giant Lukoil is located near the plant, as reported by Russian independent media ASTRA. Ukrainian drones have regularly targeted Russia’s oil and gas assets in a bid to undermine Moscow’s war machine, which relies on profits from the energy sector.
A Ukrainian attack on March 19 caused a huge fire at an oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai that raged for nearly a week.
Kyiv has not commented on the explosion in Orenburg.
Ukrainian drones have flown deep into Russian territory, with strikes reported 1,500 kilometers into Russia, including in Orenburg Oblast. In May 2024, a Ukrainian drone attacked an early-warning Voronezh M radar in the city of Orsky in Orenburg Oblast.
Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) last October claimed responsibility for a fire that damaged a Russian Tu-134 military transport aircraft at a military airfield in Orenburg Oblast.
Last month, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a long-range drone capable of flying 3,000 kilometers.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
