Yevgeny Solntsev, governor of Russia's Orenburg region, said on Sunday that Ukrainian drones attacked the Orenburg gas processing plant, the world's largest facility, damaging part of it but causing no casualties.
Solntsev added on his official Telegram channel that the attack caused a fire in one of the plant's workshops, and emergency teams were working to extinguish it.
This is the first time Russian authorities have announced an attack on this plant, which is part of the Orenburg gas chemical complex and includes Gazprom facilities dedicated to gas production and processing in the Orenburg region, with an annual capacity of 45 billion cubic meters of gas.
The plant processes gas condensate extracted from the Orenburg oil and gas field and the Karachaganak field in Kazakhstan.
Vyacheslav Fedorishev, governor of Russia's Samara region, said on social media that air defenses were operating throughout the night to counter Ukrainian drone attacks, noting that the local airport and mobile internet services were temporarily suspended.
Ukraine previously attempted to target an oil refinery in Samara.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced in a statement that air defense forces shot down 45 Ukrainian drones last night, including 12 over Samara, 11 over Saratov, and one over Orenburg.
There has been no comment yet from Ukraine, which has intensified its attacks on Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities since August in an attempt to disrupt fuel supplies and deprive Moscow of funding.
Ukrainian protests set fire to Russian gas station
