Russian drones target Kyiv petrol stations

Russian strikes on urban petrol stations have intensified in recent months, mostly in regions near the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine.

It is part of a campaign to disrupt civilian life and weaken morale that has also included attacks on food distribution hubs, sporadically leaving some supermarket shelves bare in the Ukrainian capital.

Ukraine is urgently trying to improve its air defences as Russia’s invasion stretches into its fifth year, and on Thursday won pledges of more support from Canada.

More than half a million Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, a senior British defence official said on Friday.

The dead are among 1.5 million Russian casualties in Ukraine, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, Chief of the Defence Staff, said.

Russia’s armed forces have also lost an “enormous” amount of military materiel, Sir Richard Knighton told reporters.

That includes more than 10,000 armoured and protected vehicles, close to 3,000 air defence and artillery systems, and more than 370 aircraft and helicopters, he said.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has extended its own long-range drone campaign deep into Russia, straining air defences across its bigger neighbour’s vast territory.

On Thursday, its military reported hitting a refinery more than 1,800 miles away in Siberia as Kyiv tries to hurt Russia’s vital oil sector.

Its strikes have caused fuel shortages in Russia, one of the world’s biggest energy producers.

Russia’s oil product exports hit record lows in August, and Moscow is importing fuel from South Korea and India, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said in a report.

The Finland-registered non-profit organisation said on Thursday: “Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s refining capacity have turned tables on the world’s once largest oil product exporter to see them start importing fuels, with imports surging to a record 172,000 metric tons in August, more than seven times the previous monthly high.”

Drones hit two petrol stations in 10 minutes in Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi and Obolonskyi districts on Friday. Five people, including a rescuer, were wounded, the State Emergency Service said.

Ukrainian officials and analysts have warned for months that Russia would extend petrol station strikes to the capital as part of its campaign to intimidate civilians.

“Russia is systematically attacking places where it knows people will be spending their time going about their daily lives, seeking to maximize casualties, spread fear, and put pressure on Ukrainian society,” foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said on X on Thursday.

Authorities have urged residents not to linger near petrol stations and other exposed infrastructure during air raid alerts.

Pavlohrad, a city in central Ukraine, observed an official day of mourning on  Friday for five residents killed near shopping centres by Russian drones the previous day.

The attack also wounded 67 people, Mr Sybiha said on X.

Ukraine launched a major barrage overnight from Thursday to Friday, and the Russian defence ministry said air defences intercepted 777 Ukrainian drones over 16 Russian regions, as well as occupied Crimea and the waters of the Azov and the Caspian seas.

Two people were killed and three others wounded overnight in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Tula region south of Moscow, officials said on Friday.

A Ukrainian drone strike during the night started a fire at the Saratov oil refinery in southwestern Russia, Russian independent online outlet Astra said.

Kyiv has repeatedly targeted that refinery, which was last hit in early August.