Ukrainian drones strike major Russian gas plant

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian drones overnight struck a major gas processing plant in southern Russia, sparking a fire, the Russian local governor reported.

The Orenburg plant, run by state-owned gas giant Gazprom and located in a region of the same name near the Kazakh border, is part of a production and processing complex that is one of the world’s largest facilities of its kind, with an annual capacity of 45 billion cubic meters.

According to regional Gov. Yevgeny Solntsev, the drone strikes set fire to a workshop at the plant and damaged part of it. Solntsev said there were no casualties.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement early Sunday that its air defense forces had shot down 45 Ukrainian drones during the night, including one over the Orenburg region and a total of 23 over the nearby Samara and Saratov regions.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which has ramped up attacks in recent months on Russian energy facilities it says both fund and directly fuel Moscow’s war effort.