According to local sources, Russian attacks damaged an oil refinery in the central Poltava area and attacked “critical infrastructure,” most likely oil installations, near the major port city of Odesa.
The sole fully operational oil refinery in Ukraine was in Kremenchuk, 250 kilometers (150 miles) southeast of Kyiv along the Dnipro River.
The Poltava region’s governor, Dmytro Lunin, announced on television that the refinery was damaged in a rocket strike on Saturday.
Dmytro explained that, “the refinery fire has been put out, but the facility has been entirely devastated and is no longer operational.”
The destruction of the refinery could not be independently verified; the plant handled 3.2 million tonnes of oil last year, and its loss might be a setback for Ukraine’s defense efforts; other missiles also hit Mykolaiv, according to an interior ministry adviser.
An oil refinery and three gasoline storage facilities near Odesa were damaged by Russian missiles, according to Russia’s defense ministry.
Ukraine has utilized them to supply its forces near Mykolaiv, according to Russia.
According to Vladyslav Nazarov, a member of Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command, a missile strike on “critical infrastructure” occurred.
Two columns of dense, black smoke rose into the gloomy sky before spreading out across the metropolis.
“All relevant systems and structures are working,” Nazarov stated, “No casualties reported.”
“Homes, civilian infrastructure, roofs have suffered damage,” Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov stated on Television.
Ukraine’s navy is based at Odesa, as well as other Black Sea ports such as Mariupol and Mykolaiv.
It would provide Russia a land corridor from Crimea to Transnistria, a Russian-speaking separatist province of Moldova that hosts Russian soldiers, if it were to be captured.
Russia has been accused of attacking civilians but has denied the allegations.
The attacks occurred just before Greece’s foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, was set to arrive in the city to offer humanitarian supplies to the local government.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
