‘Ukrainian drone’ attack hits oil refinery just 80 miles from Putin’s palace

Russia suffered a huge explosion at an oil refinery in a suspected drone attack or sabotage, just 80 miles from Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea palace.

The explosion came as another Russian general was killed in Moscow’s ongoing war against Ukraine, this time in a missile attack.

The double whammy for Putin came as Ukraine intensified its counter-offensive, with Kiev forces claiming to have liberated at least four villages on the front line, amid reports that Russian troops are being killed as they flee through their own mine fields.

Meanwhile, Russia launched a “massive missile” attack overnight in the central Ukrainian town of Kryvyi Rih, killing at least 10 people and damaging civilian infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said early Tuesday.

Video surfaced this morning from the oil refinery in Krasnodar, showing flames and noxious thick black smoke billowing from the facility after the attack.

The city of Krasnodar is the capital of a region of the same name that is linked to the annexed Crimea through the Kerch Strait.

Putin and Gelendzhik’s £1bn clifftop palace, complete with an underground bunker, pole-dancing boudoir and vineyard, is less than 80 miles away from the blast.

The city is a key link in Putin’s war effort and a hub for supplying occupied Crimea.

The fire broke out at the Krasnodar oil refinery, at a diesel processing facility, local Kuban News said. More than 130 firefighters were called to the scene.

Attacks inside Russia’s borders have become more frequent in recent months. Ukraine, or pro-Ukrainian groups, are believed to be using drones to attack key infrastructure such as oil refineries or military bases.

There was no initial claim of responsibility for the Krasnodar attack. The city is some 200 miles away from the front lines in Ukraine.

The Krasnodar region also suffered a radio attack this week from the anti-Putin partisan group Freedom of Russia Legion.

The message threatened to destroy Putin’s ‘war criminals’ in Crimea, but would not pose a threat to the civilian population.

The attack came as Major General Sergey Goryachev, 52, was killed in a missile strike in the Zaporizhzhia region, adding to Putin’s war woes.

He was the Chief of Staff of Russia’s 35th Combined Arms Army and is one of at least 11 generals reported to have died in the war, the first this year.

His death was revealed after Putin handed out medals to wounded soldiers at a Moscow hospital, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

By personally presenting his medals, he acknowledged the heavy price Russia has suffered in the war.

Earlier, the Russian leader had been to a champagne reception in the Kremlin at a state honor ceremony.

The general’s death was revealed by pro-war military channels which admitted that Russian forces were under pressure due to the Ukrainian counter-offensive.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented, as is normal with deaths of senior officers among its forces.

“War takes the best,” war correspondent Yuri Kotenok reported.

“As a result of an enemy missile attack, Major General Sergey Goryachev, chief of staff of the 35th Combined Arms Army, was killed,” Kotenok said.

‘The army today lost one of the most brilliant and effective military leaders, who combined the highest professionalism with personal courage. The friends of the combat express their condolences to the family and friends of the deceased’.

Gorbachev had been promoted to general during the war.

Kotenok said Russian forces were facing “heavy fighting” along “almost the entire line of military contact.” He admitted: “The situation is difficult in the defense zone of the 60th and 37th motorized rifle brigades.”

News of Goryachev’s death came as Russia launched a ‘massive’ missile attack on the central Ukrainian town of Kryvyi Rih overnight.

Ten people were killed and more wounded in a Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian town of Kryvyi Rih early Tuesday morning, the regional governor said, as airstrikes were reported in Kiev and other cities.

‘A five-story building was destroyed. According to initial reports, three of its residents died. 25 people were injured,” Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram. There are still people under the rubble.

Kryvyi Rih Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said one person is believed to still be trapped under the rubble and 28 others were injured.

The devastation in the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky is the latest bloodshed in Russia’s war in Ukraine, now in its 16th month.

Images from the scene showed emergency crews working in the burned-out building, a sight that has become all too common in the 15 months of war.

Survivors were seen wrapped in blankets, looking on in disbelief.

Seven other people were injured in attacks at two other locations, it added.

Lysak said three cruise missiles were shot down but others made it through.

The Ukrainian capital and the northeastern city of Kharkiv also came under missile and drone attacks.

“According to initial reports, the enemy used Kh-101/555 cruise missiles,” the Kiev city military administration said.

“All enemy targets in the airspace around Kiev were successfully detected and destroyed by air defense forces and means,” it said, adding that there was no immediate information on casualties or damage.

In Kharkiv, civilian infrastructure was attacked by a drone, the city’s mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

‘According to initial reports, a utility company in Kyivskyi district as well as a warehouse in Saltivskyi district were damaged. Following the explosion in the latter a fire broke out,’ he said.

Air alerts also sounded in Dnipropetrovsk oblast and neighboring Donetsk and Poltava regions.

The new wave of airstrikes came after Ukraine claimed to have retaken several villages and made progress in its counteroffensive against Russian forces.

“The fight is hard, but we are making progress, this is very important,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily evening address on Monday.