Russian oil refinery damaged after weekend attack from Ukraine, state media reports
Russia’s Slavyansk oil refinery was damaged in a drone attack from Ukraine over the weekend, Russian state news agency Tass reported on Monday.
“There is damage. Their scale and size will be determined,” Eduard Trudnev, a security official for the refinery told Tass, according to a Google translation. He added that the vulnerabilities of the refinery were established and in the process of being addressed.
The refinery suspended operations and a damage assessment was being carried out following the attack, Tass previously reported.
Roman Sinyagovsky, head of the Slavyansky district, on Sunday said that six drones fell onto the grounds of the oil refinery, according to a Google-translated Telegram post. No casualties were reported initially, he said.
CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Russia sends condolences to Iran following the deaths of ‘true friends’
Russia has sent its condolences to ally Iran after it was confirmed that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian died in a helicopter crash Sunday.
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian news agency Sputnik on December 7, 2023, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow.
Sergei Bobylyov | Afp | Getty Images
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the ministers had “always been known in Russia as true friends.”
“The Russian Federation sincerely expresses its condolences to the families and friends of those killed in the plane crash and to the entire friendly Iranian people,” Lavrov said, state news agency Tass reported.
Russia and Iran’s alliance has deepened since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with Tehran accused of supplying Moscow with thousands of one-way attack drones, missiles and artillery shells for use against Ukraine. Iran denies supplying weapons to Russia.
— Holly Ellyatt
Air raid alarms sound in Belgorod again after attacks injure 13
There have been several air raid alarms in Russia’s Belgorod region Monday morning, with the regional governor warning residents to seek shelter.
Earlier, Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that the town of Shebekino had been attacked by a Ukrainian drone. No civilians were injured but two apartment buildings were damaged.
The latest attack, which has not been confirmed by Ukraine, comes a day after various towns in the border region of Belgorod were targeted on Sunday, leaving 13 people injured.
Belgorod has become a focal point for Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s border regions; Russia says one of the main reasons it has launched a new offensive in Kharkiv, northeast Ukraine (and adjacent to Belgorod) is to create a “buffer zone” to protect its border regions.
Russian officials in the region of Belgorod, Russia, on Feb. 15, 2024.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
Gladkov said Ukrainian forces attacked Shebekino with multiple-launch rockets on Sunday, injuring 11 people, including three children, and damaging apartment buildings and cars in the town. To the east of the town, the village of Rzhevka was also shelled, he said, injuring two people and damaging one house.
CNBC was unable to verify the reports and Ukraine has not commented on the attacks; it rarely does when it comes to strikes on Russian territory. Both Russia and Ukraine say they don’t target civilians or civilian infrastructure.
— Holly Ellyatt
Day of mourning declared in Kharkiv after 11 killed in spate of Russian attacks
A day of mourning has been declared in the northeast Kharkiv region on Monday after a popular leisure spot and several villages were shelled by Russian forces on Sunday, leaving 11 civilians dead and others wounded.
“May 20 is the Day of Mourning in the Kharkiv region,” Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional state administration, said on Telegram late on Sunday after a number of separate attacks.
“As a result of the shelling of the villages of Kivsharivka, Novoosynove [in the Kupiansk district] and the Malodanyliv community [on the outskirts of Kharkiv city], the occupiers took the lives of 11 people. Among the dead is a pregnant woman,” he said.
Kharkiv has become the prime target of Russian attacks since its forces launched a new offensive in the border region on May 10.
A lakeside recreation spot in Cherkasska Lozova on the outskirts of Kharkiv city was also among the areas attacked on Sunday, leaving at least five people dead and 16 injured, Syniehubov said, among them two ambulance workers.
Law enforcement officers work at the site of a Russian missile strike after an attack on the Berig family recreation center in Cherkasska Lozova, Kharkiv region, Ukraine on May 19, 2024. The incident left at least five people dead and 15 others injured. Among the dead was a woman who was seven months pregnant.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
He accused Russia of carrying out a “double-tap” strike in which an initial attack is followed up by a second in order to kill members of the emergency services attending the scene. Russia says it does not target civilians. In a separate attack, one person was killed in Russian shelling in Vovchansk, a border town that Russian forces are believed to partially occupy.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the country’s Western allies to provide it with additional air defense systems to protect Kharkiv.
Commenting on Telegram Sunday, Zelenskyy said “the world can stop Russian terror – and for this the lack of political will of the leaders must be overcome. Two “Patriots” [missile defense systems] will fundamentally change the situation for Kharkiv.”
—️ Holly Ellyatt
