Kyiv, April 18: A civilian was killed and dozens more wounded in overnight Russian attacks across Ukraine, local officials said Saturday.
One person was killed in a strike on Mykolaivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, local leader Vadym Filashkin said in a post on social media. Other officials reported at least 26 people had been hurt in attacks across northern and eastern Ukraine, including a strike on port infrastructure in the city of Odesa.
Elsewhere, a Ukrainian drone strike targeted industrial areas in Novokuibyshevsk and Syzran in Russia’s Samara region, Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said Saturday.
He did not give further details, but the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a statement that it had hit major oil refineries in both cities. It also said that its attacks had sparked fires at the Vystosk oil terminal in Russia’s northwestern Leningrad region and an oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region, with the blazes later confirmed by Russian officials.
Ukraine increasingly targeting Russian oil
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian oil facilities in the past, but the strategy has gained more attention since the Trump administration gave Russian oil a temporary waiver from sanctions to ease supply constraints.
The US Treasury Department extended its pause on sanctions on Russian oil shipments on Friday, despite complaints from Kyiv officials that Russia will use the additional revenue on new weapons to hit Ukraine harder.
The so-called general license means US sanctions will not apply for 30 days on deliveries of Russian oil that has been loaded on tankers as of Friday. It extended a similar 30-day license issued in March for Russian oil that had been loaded by March 11. (AP)
