SSU drones strike key Russian oil transport hub in Tatarstan – source

Long-range drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) struck a critically important hub for transporting Russian oil overnight – the main Kaleikino Oil Pumping Station near Almetyevsk, in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan.

A source in the SSU said this to Ukrinform.

According to the source, six explosions were heard during the drone attack on the Kaleikino facility, followed by a large-scale fire. Oil storage tanks on the station’s premises caught fire. The distance from Ukraine’s border to the oil pumping station exceeds 1,200 kilometers, the source said.

The Kaleikino oil pumping station is a key node supplying crude oil to the Druzhba pipeline. It receives oil from Western Siberia and the Volga region and blends it before exporting it abroad.

“The SSU is systematically working to reduce Russia’s oil production and transportation capabilities. Our special operations methodically cut the flow of petrodollars into the Russian budget that finance the war against Ukraine. This work will continue in order to exhaust and gradually drain Russia’s economy,” the source emphasized.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, Russian media said that drones attacked an oil pumping station near Almetyevsk overnight on February 23.

Screenshot from video