Second drone attack in the week hits Russia's Oryol fuel depot

An oil depot in the Russian village of Stalnoy Kon, Oryol, set fire for the second time in a week Dec. 22 after authorities reported another drone attack hitting the facility earlier.

In a statement on Telegram at around 2 am Moscow Standard Time Dec. 22 (2300 GMT Dec. 21), Regional Governor Andrey Klychkov said the fuel storage site had been targeted by a Ukrainian attack, causing firefighters to be dispatched to the scene.

Located less than 200 km from the Russian border with Ukraine, the Oryol region has been subject to several drone attacks as Ukrainian forces have targeted strategic fuel reserves that can feed Russia's military. Its Stalnoy Kon depot sits along Russia's Transneft-operated diesel pipeline, which feeds several inventory hubs across the region.

In a later update, Klychkov wrote that 20 drones were taken down overnight over the western Russian region, mostly targeting fuel and energy infrastructure facilities. By 9 am local time, the fire had been extinguished, the governor wrote, downplaying any impact on regional fuel availability.

"Thanks to a quick response we managed to avoid the consequences of the attack - the fire was quickly localized and has now been completely eliminated," Klychkov wrote.

A previous incident Dec. 14 involving at least 11 drones had caused a fire to rage at the Stalnoy Kon depot for almost 12 hours before it was extinguished by emergency services. At the time, the local administration said the depot had not been supplying the region's retail fuel network, downplaying the impact on local residents.

To the east of Oryol, the Russian city of Kazan was also subjected to three waves of drone attacks Dec. 21, according to a Telegram statement from Russia's Ministry of Defense.

Situated roughly 1,000 km from the Ukrainian border, Kazan's military-industrial complex and residential buildings were targeted by the drones, Tartarstan regional head Rustam Minnikhanov said in a statement.

Russian authorities have been on high alert for attacks as more prominent energy infrastructure appears to have become a focus of a renewed Ukrainian drone offensive. After a lull in incidents targeting critical refining capacity for several months, recent attacks have made Russia's Moscow and Ufaneftekhim refineries targets for the first time, proving a strike range of at least 1,400 km for Ukrainian drones.

On Dec. 18, a fire erupted at the 112,000 b/d Novoshakhtinsky refinery after the site was hit by its third attack in 2024. Damage to the plant has not been confirmed, though previous incidents in March and June triggered unplanned outages of up to two months while key operating units were repaired.