Russia’s precision missiles take out Ukrainian refinery, military airfields

Russian forces targeted a major Ukrainian oil refinery and airfields in a series of strikes Saturday morning, according to a spokesman for the country’s military.

“The refinery, in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, was hit by high-precision long-range air and sea-based weapons,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a briefing on Saturday.

Konashenkov said Russia’s military had destroyed storage facilities holding gasoline and diesel fuels that were supplying Ukrainian troops in the country’s eastern and central regions.

Russia also struck military airfields in Poltava and Dnipro, cities to the east of Kremenchuk, using high-precision air-based missiles, Konashenkov said.

According to Dmytro Lunin, the governor of the Ukranian region of Poltava where the refinery is located, said three Russian planes carried out the strike at about 6 a.m. local time.

He could not confirm the casualty figure.

Lunin also said that four Russian missiles hit other targets in Poltava at around 2 a.m.

Ukraine’s largest oil company Ukrnafta operates an oil refinery in Kremenchuk, according to the company.

Russia claimed Friday Ukrainian helicopters destroyed its fuel depot in Belgorod, and President Volodymyr Zelensky has been parrying responsibility for the first offensive on Russia.