A major Russian oil hub has been attacked by drones for the fourth time in one month, despite calls for Ukraine to stop strikes on energy facilities. The strike hit the Samara Linear Production and Dispatch Station (LPDS) in the Samara region of southwestern Russia in the early hours of today, with the facility seen burning.
People living nearby in the town of Prosvet heard explosions, Russian news outlet Astra reports. The facility has been described as a "major hub for receiving, storing and blending crude oil" by Anton Gerashchenko, former Ukrainian deputy minister of internal affairs. Gerashchenko added that this is the fourth attack on LPDS since early October.
Background of the attack
The latest attack comes as Ukraine has previously been accused of defying US president Donald Trump after he called for strikes on energy facilities to be halted. Yuri Ushakov, a foreign aide to Vladimir Putin, previously said Ukraine "disobeyed" and "simply ignored" Trump following an attack on a different refinery in the Samara region a few days ago.
He said: "Although Trump has been - and continues to be - insistent on this matter, they are not listening. They are probably bold, because Europe continues to support them. It’s unlikely they would have dared to do this on their own." Trump has blamed Ukraine for climbing fuel prices despite his war with Iran also being a significant contributor.
Details of the strike
The attack on LPDS was reported on open source intelligence accounts and Telegram channels, with footage showing smoke rising from the facility. The extent of the damage has not been confirmed. A drone threat was reportedly flagged at around 3am local time, with some reports claiming workers were evacuated as a precaution from multiple warehouse facilities in Samara. The attack was then reported by 5am local time by open source intelligence channels, Kyiv Post reports.
Russian regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said air defences and mobile fire groups were responding to a drone attack but did not confirm the locations targeted. He wrote: "There is a repulse of the attack of the Armed Forces on our territory. Air defence, mobile fire groups are working."
Impact on the facility
In a post on X, Gerashchenko said: "The Samara Linear Production and Dispatch Station (LPDS) near Prosvet in Russia's Samara region was reportedly attacked for the fourth time since early October. The facility is a major hub for receiving, storing, and blending crude oil from Tatarstan, Western Siberia, and other regions of Russia.
"It is also used to produce Russia's Urals export crude blend. Part of the Transneft system, the LPDS covers more than 216 hectares and has one of Europe's largest oil storage tank farms. It contains 71 tanks with a combined capacity of over 1.6 million cubic meters of oil, two oil pumping stations - Samara-1 and Samara-2 - and a separate oil blending station."
Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ also reported explosions in Luhansk in Russian-occupied Donbas early today (Monday), with drones allegedly attacking the city at around 3.15am. Four storage tanks at LPDS were reportedly destroyed in an attack on October 7, when a large fire was caused. The Russian defence ministry said it intercepted and destroyed 212 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight.
