Astra and the Ukrainian OSINT channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ reported the attack on the Samara station, saying a Transneft linear production and dispatch station was on fire. Neither the company nor the authorities have officially confirmed the reports.
The Samara station receives and blends different grades of oil before sending them onward through trunk pipelines. The facility covers more than 216 hectares and holds 71 reservoirs. Astra called the tank farm the largest in Europe.
Samara Mayor Ivan Noskov reported that ground public transport was suspended because of the threat of a drone and missile attack. Rosaviatsia, the federal air transport agency, imposed restrictions on the arrival and departure of aircraft at Samara airport.
Volgograd region Governor Andrei Bocharov reported a massed drone attack on industrial infrastructure. He did not specify which facilities were targeted.
In Volgograd, according to Bocharov, an apartment building on Udmurtskaya Street caught fire. One person was injured and taken to hospital. The governor named the injured person but did not give an exact casualty figure or describe the extent of damage to the buildings.
According to Astra's analysis, a fire was recorded in the area of the Volgograd refinery and the nearby Kaustik chemical plant. The glow was visible in that direction. The outlet noted that the available video does not make it possible to determine what exactly was burning.
A day earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck an oil facility in the Samara region, a target in the Black Sea, a launch and storage site for strike drones in the Oryol region, and supply depots in the Bryansk region. The Kuibyshev refinery in Samara, owned by Rosneft, came under repeated attacks in September. According to Reuters, the plant temporarily halted refining after a strike in June.
Accounts differ: the Ukrainian OSINT channels and Astra report a fire at the Samara station, while Russian authorities have not reported the attack. In the Volgograd region, Governor Bocharov speaks of "industrial infrastructure" without specifying targets, while Astra, citing video, suggests the area of the refinery and Kaustik without confirming what exactly caught fire.