Ukraine strikes major fuel pipeline supplying Russian army near Moscow

Ukraine’s intelligence agency said its forces hit a major fuel pipeline near Moscow that supplies Russia’s army. The Koltsevoy pipeline was badly damaged. Russia later launched fresh drone and missile strikes across Ukraine, killing one person and injuring several others

Kyiv: Ukrainian forces hit an important fuel pipeline in the Moscow region that supplies the Russian army, Ukraine’s military intelligence said Saturday, a claim that came amid a sustained Russian campaign of massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The operation was carried out late Friday, according to a statement on the Telegram messaging channel. The agency, which is known by its acronym HUR, described it as a “serious blow” to Russia’s military logistics.

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HUR said its forces struck the Koltsevoy pipeline, which spans 400 kilometres (250 miles) and supplies the Russian army with gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from refineries in Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow.

The operation, which targeted infrastructure near the Ramensky district, destroyed all three fuel lines, HUR said. The pipeline was capable of transporting up to 3 million tons of jet fuel, 2.8 million tons of diesel, and 1.6 million tons of gasoline annually, HUR said.

“Our strikes have had more impact than sanctions,” said Kyrylo Budanov, the head of HUR, referring to international sanctions on Russia imposed over its full-out war and the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Elsewhere, a civilian died and 15 more were injured after Russia struck southern Ukraine with a ballistic missile on Saturday morning, local official Vitaliy Kim said. A child is among those injured in the strike on the Mykolaiv region, he said and added that Russia used an Iskander missile.

Another Russian strike early Saturday sparked a fire at a gas plant in the central Poltava region, Ukraine’s emergency service reported. The latest strikes came as Russia keeps up massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure — attacks that brought power outages and restrictions across Ukraine earlier this week, in what Kyiv described as a “systematic energy terror.”

Moscow launched 223 drones at Ukraine overnight into Saturday, 206 of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force. Seventeen struck targets in seven Ukrainian regions, the air force said, without providing details.

Russia also hit an agricultural enterprise in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, injuring a 66-year-old woman there, according to a Telegram update by regional government official Viacheslav Chaus.