Ukrainian drones strike Russia's Samara oil station, tanks ablaze
Photo: SBU drones damaged crude oil storage tanks (Russian media)
On the night of April 21, drones operated by the SBU’s Alpha Special Operations Center struck the Samara linear production dispatch station in Russia. The attack triggered a large-scale fire, according to RBC-Ukraine's source in the SBU.
The station, located in the settlement of Prosvet in Russia’s Samara region, blends high- and low-sulfur oil from different fields to produce the export-grade Urals crude. The facility is a key part of the aggressor state’s oil transportation infrastructure.
According to preliminary data, SBU drones damaged five storage tanks, each with a capacity of 20,000 cubic meters, filled with crude oil.
“Strikes on such critical hub stations directly reduce Russia’s ability to form export oil batches and fulfill contractual obligations. This disrupts the balance of raw materials, increases logistics and storage costs, and creates risks of supply disruptions,” the source said.
Illustrative photo: Samara gas station (social media)
As a result, the aggressor state receives less revenue from oil sales, which it can use to fund the war against Ukraine.
Strikes on Russian refineries
As a reminder, on April 16, the SBU reported a strike on the Tuapse oil refinery and oil transportation infrastructure in the port of Tuapse during a joint operation with Ukraine’s Defense Forces.
On April 21, the Center for Countering Disinformation reported that the fire at an oil terminal in Russia’s Tuapse is still ongoing.
In addition, the Nizhny Novgorod oil refinery Nizhnegorodnefteorgsintez, the fourth largest in Russia, suspended operations after a Ukrainian drone strike on April 5.
A series of strikes on key Russian oil terminals in the Baltic has caused the aggressor state losses of nearly $1 billion — and that figure reflects only lost export revenue.
