Kiev's drones managed an unprecedented strike on a Lukoil oil platform in the Caspian Sea, more than 1,200 km from Ukraine
Image for illustrative purposes. Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian oil tanker. PHOTO: SBU
Sources in the Security Service of Ukraine quoted by the Kyiv Post said the platform was hit four times.
Long-range drones operated by the Alpha Special Operations Center of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) struck Lukoil's Filanovski offshore oil rig in the Caspian Sea, halting production from more than 20 wells, a security official told Reuters on Thursday morning.
The platform, the Kyiv Post also writes, is located in the northern Caspian Sea, approximately 1,150 kilometers from Ukraine and approximately 220 kilometers from the coast of the Astrakhan region of Russia.
According to the Kyiv Post, it is Ukraine's first strike on Russian oil extraction infrastructure in the Caspian Sea. Information says the rig was hit four times.
The Filanovski field is one of the largest discovered in Russia and the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea, containing approximately 129 million tons of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas.
“The SBU continues successful special operations against Russia's oil and gas sector, steadily expanding its scope,” an SBU source told the Kyiv Post.
A massive barrage of nearly 300 Ukrainian drones struck targets across Russia early Thursday, forcing Moscow's main airports to ground flights for seven hours.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 36 Ukrainian drones were shot down as they approached the capital over more than seven hours. He did not provide information on casualties or damage.
On Wednesday, the SBU announced that its naval drones had struck an oil tanker from Russia's “ghost fleet” in the Black Sea, severely damaging the vessel as it sailed through Ukraine's exclusive economic zone, according to the Kyiv Independent.
The tanker, identified as the Comoros-flagged Dashan, was heading at high speed to the Russian port terminal in Novorossiisk with its automatic identification system turned off when it was hit.
The attack follows a series of Ukrainian operations targeting Russia's Phantom Fleet and associated oil infrastructure.
