“Our area is being attacked by Ukrainian UAVs,” Vasily Anokhin, Governor of Smolensk region, wrote on Telegram channel at about 5:00 a.m. local time on the morning of April 24. This official informed that Russian air defense systems are actively responding to enemy air strikes.
RT quoted Mr. Anokhin adding that the target of hostile UAVs was “civilian energy and fuel facilities” in the Smolensk region, leading to many fires in Smolensky and Yartsevsky districts. The governor said local firefighters were trying to put out the fire, and called on people to stay calm.
Smolensk region is located about 300km southeast of Moscow and borders Belarus. The distance from this area to the Ukrainian border is approximately 400km.
Russian authorities accused Kiev forces of trying to bomb another energy and oil facility in Smolensk last week. According to Mr. Anokhin, while local air defense shot down the UAVs, the debris fell into an oil and lubricant warehouse, causing a small fire.
On April 20, Russian air defense forces prevented a Ukrainian UAV attack across the western region of the country, shooting down about 50 UAVs in the border areas of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk, as well as in other areas. areas deeper in the Russian interior such as Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga and Moscow.
Since January this year, Ukraine has conducted a series of long-range raids using suicide UAVs on Russian energy facilities, including oil depots and refineries. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that this move is intended to impress Western countries that support Kiev in the context that Ukrainian troops have not made much progress on the front lines, in the conflict with Russia.
The Washington Post reported earlier this week that US Vice President Kamala Harris met privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February to ask him to avoid targeting Russian oil refineries. US President Joe Biden’s administration believes such moves will increase global energy prices and lead to major retaliation from Russia.
However, according to the American newspaper, Mr. Zelensky rejected the request. Despite the US becoming increasingly more resolute in the following weeks, Kiev doubled down on its strategy.
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