Burning for five days: Fire rages at Russia’s Novoshakhtinsk refinery
Photo: Fire continues at Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia (Russian Media)
The Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in southern Russia has been burning for the fifth consecutive day. It is one of the largest suppliers of petroleum products in the region, Andriy Kovalenko, Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, reports.
“The Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery is still burning. And Putin could simply end the war,” Kovalenko noted.
Drone attack on Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery
On the night of August 21, Ukrainian drones attacked the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in the Rostov region, causing a large-scale fire at the facility. By August 23, the fire had spread to a new storage tank.
Due to the scale of the fire, the city of Krasny Sulin had its water supply cut off to redirect water for firefighting.
Immediately after the first attack on August 21, the water pressure in Novoshakhtinsk was lowered to fill firefighting reservoirs. Residents were warned about the low water pressure and asked for their understanding.
The mayor of Novoshakhtinsk, Sergey Bondarenko, acknowledged that extinguishing the fire is difficult and advised people to go outside as little as possible, keep windows closed at night, use protective masks, and seal gaps in homes with wet cloths.
The Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery is the only operating such facility in the Rostov region.
It is one of the largest suppliers of petroleum products in southern Russia and contributes to supplying the Russian military with fuel and lubricants. The total capacity of the refinery’s storage tanks exceeds 210,000 cubic meters.
According to Reuters, oil prices have already shown slight increases following Ukraine’s attacks on Russian infrastructure, raising concerns about possible disruptions in Russian oil supplies.
Earlier, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed that the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery had been struck by unmanned systems on the night of August 21.
