Fire breaks out at distillery in Russia's Voronezh region after drone attack
Illustrative photo: A fire broke out at a factory in the Voronezh region due to a drone attack (Getty Images)
A drone attack struck the Ethanol Spirit distillery in Novokhopyorsk, Voronezh region, on Sunday evening, October 27. The facility, previously targeted by drone strikes earlier this month, was hit again, reportedly causing damage, according to Voronezh Governor Aleksandr Gusev and Russian media.
According to a Russian official, regional air defense forces shot down and suppressed around ten drones.
"One drone’s fall damaged an annex to a utility building at the industrial facility. Emergency services are on-site," the official stated.
Later, he added, "Damage has also been confirmed at another industrial facility."
"A drone crash there triggered a fire at one of the sites," the governor wrote on social media.
Near midnight, he reported that one person was injured "during the drone’s fall and the ensuing fire at the industrial site."
"Preliminary reports indicate the fire affected a building and one storage tank. There is also preliminary information on damage to two residential buildings and an auxiliary structure," his statement on Telegram read.
Russian media and outlets clarified that drones attacked the distillery in Novokhopyorsk, sparking a large fire. In addition, numerous images of the burning enterprise were published online.
Updated at 1:30 a.m. (Kyiv time)
Additional reports from the Russian outlet Astra indicate a fire has erupted at the Anninsky distillery, where the Annanefteprodukt oil depot is located. This site previously came under drone attack in early October.
“Residents reported that UAVs also targeted the distillery in the village of Krasnoye in the Voronezh region. The distance between the settlement of Anna and Krasnoye is approximately 50 kilometers,” Astra noted in its publication.
Strikes on Russian distilleries
On the night of October 6, a fire broke out at the Ethanol Spirit distillery in Novokhopyorsk, Voronezh region, following a drone strike.
Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, recently stated that distilleries in Russia are also used to produce fuel for military use and explosives. This, he explained, is why such sites have become targets for Ukrainian drones.
Earlier reports indicated that drone strikes caused explosions and fires in Yefremov, Tula region, Russia, during the night of October 22, affecting the Yefremov distillery and another distillery in the village of Luzhkovsky, Suvorovsky district.
On October 22, an explosion and fire were reported at the Biokhim facility in the Tambov region, Russia. That same day, a fire occurred at an industrial site in the Voronezh region.
