A refinery burns deep inside Russia as Washington presses Kyiv to halt attacks on Russian oil facilities Ukraine struck a plant in Russia's Rostov region that makes solid rocket fuel, using drones and Neptune missiles, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday. The Kamensky plant in the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky produces fuel for rockets fired by Russia's Uragan, Smerch and Tornado-S multiple rocket launchers, as well as for other missile systems and air-launched weapons, Ukraine's General Staff said. It said a fire broke out at a warehouse holding finished products and four production workshops were damaged. Hitting fuel production would weaken Russia's ability to fire rocket barrages at Ukrainian towns and villages, the General Staff said. The Neptune is a Ukrainian-made cruise missile originally designed to hit ships, and the missiles used in the strike were launched from the navy's coastal missile systems, according to the General Staff. Ukrainian forces also struck four Russian supply depots in occupied parts of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk regions, the General Staff said. Rostov Governor Yuri Slyusar said air defenses had repelled an attack involving more than 90 drones over Kamensk-Shakhtinsky and four districts, and that falling debris damaged a private house and an outbuilding. He reported no casualties, according to preliminary information. Separately, drones attacked the city of Ufa in Russia's Bashkortostan region, more than 1,000 km from Ukraine, setting fire to the Bashneft-Novoil oil refinery, the independent Russian outlet Astra reported, citing an analysis of eyewitness photos. The refinery is part of a complex operated by Rosneft's Bashneft unit. The complex is one of the largest in Russia, with a combined capacity of about 23.5 million tonnes of crude a year. Local authorities declared a drone alert, and flights at Ufa airport were temporarily restricted. Ukraine reportedly resumed strikes on Russian refineries on Friday after a pause of nearly two weeks. Russian officials said three refineries and a gas chemical plant had been attacked, according to Russian media reports. The United States has pressed Kyiv to stop striking Russian refineries. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's comments about keeping up strikes on Russian targets were not helping preparations for peace talks. The General Staff said the strikes were part of a systematic effort to weaken Russia's war economy and force Moscow to end its aggression. It cited Ukraine's right to self-defense under the UN Charter.
