Russia stamps out fires at southern oil pipeline

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(Reuters) – Russian authorities have put out fires at an oil pipeline in the southern region of Rostov sparked by a Ukrainian drone attack, a regional official said on Tuesday, with no injuries.

Apart from the fires, the overnight drone attacks on industrial sites led to no other reports of damage, Yuri Slyusar, the region’s acting governor, said, without identifying the damaged pipeline.

“Fortunately, no one was hurt,” Slyusar said on the Telegram messaging app.

Earlier, he said workers had been evacuated from various sites in the area, just over the Ukraine border, while Russian air defence units repelled a drone attack near Novoshakhtinsk, where an oil refinery was stopped by similar previous attacks.

Ukraine’s military said the refinery was again ablaze.

Reuters could not independently verify accounts of military action by either side.

Ukraine says its attacks within Russia target infrastructure key to Moscow’s war effort, in response to Russia’s relentless bombing of Ukraine since the war started three years ago.

In December, a fire triggered by a Ukrainian attack burned for hours at an oil refinery in the Rostov region.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Sandra Maler and Clarence Fernadez)