In the early hours of Wednesday, August 28, drones produced by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) and Special Operations Forces (SSO) attacked the Atlas oil depot, in Russia’s southern Rostov region, according to Kyiv Post intelligence sources.
Located near Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Atlas is managed by the Federal Agency for State Reserves of Russia. The facility is part of the Russian military-industrial complex and directly supports the supply of Russian occupation forces.
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Eyewitnesses reported that a huge fire in the oil depot’s storage tanks. The exact extent of damage from of the operation is still being clarified, a HUR source said.
Rostov Oblast Governor Vasily Golubev confirmed that the region was attacked by drones, noting that around 3:00 a.m. four drones were shot down by air defense systems.
In a video published by local residents, several oil depot tanks can be seen engulfed in flames.
The governor confirmed the fire at the oil depot and acknowledged that Ukrainian drones were the cause. He stated that there were no casualties, and emergency response forces have been deployed to extinguish the fire. Golubev added that there is no threat of the fire spreading to residential buildings.
The Atlas fuel plant specifically supplied Russian units based in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
According to Russian media, joint exercises between the Russian Ministry of Defense and Rosreserv were held at the facility in August 2020 as part of the Kavkaz-2020 drills. The exercises practiced three methods of oil product delivery for military needs: by road, rail, and pipeline.
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A nearby oil depot in Proletarsk, also in the Rostov Oblast, had been hit on Aug. 19 and continued burning for more than a week.
Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil depots a have been a crucial part of an ongoing strategy to weaken Russia’s petroleum sector, its main economic asset.
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