[92755] Unprecedented Ukrainian drone strike hits Siberian oil refinery

Long-range strike deep inside Russia: Tyumen oil refinery hit

Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SSO) announced that on June 20, they conducted a successful drone strike against an oil refinery in Tyumen, Russia. According to the SSO statement, the drones traveled a distance of approximately 2,500 kilometers to reach their target, and the organization emphasized that this is an expression of their evolving capabilities: "There are fewer and fewer places in Russia to which the war started by the Russians does not return."

Reports in Ukrainian channels, including ТСН.ua and Оперативний ЗСУ, confirm the details of the attack and note that the refinery has significant strategic importance, as it supplies gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and aviation fuel to the Western Siberia regions. This facility has a processing capacity of up to 9 million tons of oil per year.

Conversely, the official Russian narrative is attempting to minimize the damage. According to Цензор.НЕТ, which maintains a pro-Ukrainian stance, the governor of the Tyumen region claimed that the attack was "repelled" and that, according to initial information, the factory was not damaged. However, local reports in Tyumen, as presented in Цензор.НЕТ, testify to a different reality: residents reported at least two explosions, and images circulated on social networks showed a column of black smoke rising above the site, alongside dozens of fire vehicles heading toward the plant.

The channel ҐРУНТ noted that the day before the strike, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that upgraded FP-type drones are now in Ukrainian use, enabling the execution of missions at these extraordinary ranges. While Russian authorities report the evacuation of employees and operations by emergency forces, official Ukrainian information insists on the success of the operation as part of what they term "long-range sanctions" against Russia.