Fires ignited by a Ukrainian airstrike have threatened the Druzhba system's return to full capacity for deliveries to downstream customers, but the extent of damage caused by effective hits on the key Druzhba pumping station near the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod was not clear by midday on Thursday.
The attack hit the Gorky oil refinery near the village of Meshikha, about 47 kilometers south of Nizhny Novgorod, in the early hours of the morning. The Gorky facility, owned by Transneft, is a key pumping station and fuel storage facility for products transported by Druzhba, which move from central Russia to Europe via Belarus.
The Nizhny Novgorod regional civilian air defense network issued an air raid warning shortly before midnight on April 22-23, and local air defenses were activated at 03:00 Moscow time. At the same time, a no-fly order went into effect, closing civilian airports.
A state of emergency was declared at 06:00 in the morning. A statement from the Russian Defense Ministry said that national air defense forces shot down 154 Ukrainian drones over eight other Russian regions and Crimea, with clashes over Nizhny Novgorod.
However, the airport blockade was still in effect until mid-morning.
The night battle between Ukrainian drones and Russian air defenses around the Nizhny Novgorod region and the attacks that set the Gorky refinery on fire occurred around 12:00 a.m. after Hungary's main oil importer MOL announced that Druzhba oil deliveries from Russia had resumed after more than 80 days of interruption, according to Ukrainian claims, because Russia had attacked Druzhba's infrastructure in Ukraine.
Moscow-loyal A+Fakt Nizhny Novgorod reported on Thursday morning that the Ukrainian drone attack had been “repulsed” and published images of what they called the remains of a destroyed Ukrainian aircraft.
There were no official statements about the number of Ukrainian drones that attacked the facility or the number of effective hits. Neither military nor official sources reported any casualties, KyivPost reports.
