Ukrainian drone attack hits Russia oil refinery, several wounded

A drone strike hit an oil refinery in southeast Russia's Ryazan region on Wednesday, wounding several people and causing a fire, the regional governor said.

"The Ryazan oil refinery was attacked by a drone," governor Pavel Malkov wrote on Telegram. "According to preliminary information, there were injuries."

Ukraine launched a sweeping drone attack on several Russian regions for the second night in row, officials said on Wednesday, with more than 30 drones destroyed in the air over the Voronezh region.

"The danger of a UAV attack still remains," Alexander Gusev, governor of the Voronezh region that borders Ukraine said on the Telegram messaging app.

"Overnight, more than 30 drones were detected and destroyed by air defence systems in the region."

He said there was "minor" damage to infrastructure and residential houses from falling debris.

A drone was also downed on its approach to an oil refinery in the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, the Leningrad region's governor, said on Telegram. There was no impact on the refinery's work.

In the Belgorod region, falling debris from downed drones damaged a gas supply line and cut off power to some villages.

Pilots prepare a drone on a training ground in Kyiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. File/AFP

"No one was injured," Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine said on the Telegram messaging app.

Four Ukraine-launched drones were destroyed over the region and some houses were damaged in the town of Gubkin, Gladkov added.

He also said the town of Shebekino came under fire from Ukrainian forces, injuring one man and damaging a power line in the town and nearby villages.

Roman Starovoit, governor of the Kursk oblast north of Belgorod, which also borders Ukraine to its west, said air defence systems destroyed at least four Ukraine-launched drones. He did not provide further detail on any potential damage.

The governor of the Voronezh region in Russia's south said air defence systems were engaged several times in the region in repelling a drone attack but Ukraine, but there was no "consequences for civilian objects" as a result of the attack.

On Tuesday, Ukraine pounded targets in Russia with dozens of drones and rockets in an attack that inflicted serious damage on a major oil refinery and sought to pierce the land borders of the world's biggest nuclear power with armed proxies.

Agencies