Ukrainian drones attacked eight gas stations in Belgorod and its suburbs on Thursday, July 23, injuring seven people, the Telegram channel 'Ashes of Belgorod' reported.
The targeted stations included Lukoil facilities in the Vodstroy district, on Studencheskaya Street, and in the settlement of Novosadovy; two Teboil stations on Sumskaya Street and Shchorsa Street; a Gazprom station on Magistralnaya Street; a Tatneft station on the same street; and a Rosneft station at the intersection of Volchanskaya Street and Mikhailovskoye Highway. Fires broke out at several stations, and canopies and equipment were damaged.
According to 'Ashes of Belgorod', the injured included a woman and two men at the Teboil station on Sumskaya Street; a man with shrapnel wounds at the Gazprom station; a man at the Tatneft station; three people at the Teboil station on Shchorsa Street; and a man at the Rosneft station. At one station, a drone failed to detonate, but a person was injured by the impact.
After the series of attacks, lines of cars began forming near the stations. Gazprom removed information about its stations from the Yandex Maps service. One Smart network station changed its operating hours, closing from 8:45 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The outlet Agentstvo noted that since the beginning of the week, Ukrainian forces have carried out at least 25 strikes on gas stations in the Belgorod and Kursk regions. According to Agentstvo's calculations, the total number of strikes on gas stations in July in the Belgorod region increased nearly fivefold compared to previous weeks, and in the Kursk region, twofold.
Agentstvo linked the increase in attacks to Ukraine's response to Russian strikes on gas stations in frontline areas of Ukraine.