Five strikes, 34 tanks hit—Ukraine keeps coming back to the same Russian oil hub
The hub blends Urals, Russia’s main export crude. One of its tanks was still smoking six days after the last strike.
Five Ukrainian drone strikes destroyed or damaged 34 oil tanks at Russia’s Samara pumping hub, according to Ukrainian OSINT project Dnipro Osint. The latest strike occurred overnight on November 2nd, leading Kazakhstan to temporarily halt oil flows through the Atyrau–Samara pipeline. Samara is located near the village of Prosvet in Samara Oblast, where Russia combines crude from various fields into its main export grade, Urals.
Ukraine has been targeting Russian oil facilities with what officials call "long-range sanctions" since spring, with 18 facilities struck in May alone. The Samara strikes show a focused approach, hitting the same node multiple times within a month. Nearly half of the 71 tanks at the station were damaged by the recent attacks, according to Dnipro Osint, which published images on November 8th. Some containers shielded equipment, possibly limiting the extent of the damage.
Approximately 10 tanks completely burned out, with smoke still visible from one of them six days after the latest strike. The 7 October strike alone destroyed four tanks, each holding 50,000 cubic meters of oil. Ukraine's General Staff reported that the 7 October strike destroyed four out of 50,000 cubic meter tanks at the station.
Earlier, Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry temporarily suspended oil intake through the Atyrau–Samara pipeline on November 2nd due to the drone attack. Ministry spokesperson Asel Serikpayeva stated that oil resumed moving normally through the pipeline by November 3rd, after a technical inspection. Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev of Samara Oblast claimed that Russian forces shot down 46 drones over the region that night, though he did not mention damage to oil facilities.
Atyrau–Samara is Kazakhstan's second-largest oil export route after the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, relying on Russian infrastructure. Over 10% of Russia's refining capacity and over 10% of its diesel come from the three Russian refineries targeted since Friday. Ukraine claims its strikes have knocked out more than 51% of Russia's oil refining capacity.
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