A record number of Russia’s oil refineries were hit by Ukrainian drones in January. Russia’s drone strikes become a daily occurrence in January. Trump says his administration has “meetings and talks” set with Ukraine, Russia and “various parties.”
Record number of Russia’s oil refineries hit in Ukraine drone raids in January
An overnight Ukrainian drone attack hit a major oil refinery in Russia’s Volgograd and a gas processing plant in Astrakhan, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Monday. Both facilities supply fuel to the Russian army.
The strikes were carried out by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces and Security Service in cooperation with other branches of the military.
Primary processing units were damaged at the Volgograd oil refinery that is part of the Lukoil company. A fire was raging at the Astrakhan plant, the General Staff said on Monday afternoon, adding that the facility had suspended operations.
Gazprom’s Astrakhan plant can process natural gas into diesel, gasoline, and a range of petrochemical products, including sulfur that is used as a component of explosive materials.
In the regions of Volgograd and Astrakhan, residents reported explosions overnight. In the city of Volgograd, several districts lost power as a result of the strike.
Russia’s defense ministry said that its air defense units destroyed 70 Ukrainian drones during the night, including 25 over the Volgograd region, and seven over the Astrakhan region.
Ukraine launched seven drone attacks on Russia’s oil refineries in January, the largest number in a single month in more than a year, according to the Russian news outlet Agentstvo.
Russia could face fuel shortages at gas stations after oil refineries were disrupted, but for the moment, the authorities maintain control over the situation, the web site added. Ukraine has been regularly targeting Russia’s oil facilities in an attempt to curtail fuel supplies to the military.
Russia’s drone strikes become daily occurrence in January
There was not a single day in January without Russia’s drone attacks targeting most of the country, Ukrainian web site Novynarnya said, citing Ukrainian Air Force’s daily reports. Throughout January the Ukrainian military shot down or jammed a total of 1,598 drones, 23 Kh-101/Kh-55SM cruise missiles, 11 Kh-59/69 air-launched missiles, three Iskander-K cruise missiles, and two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles.
Russia launched a single major drone and missile strike on January 15.
Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted 93 drones on January 20, which was the highest that month. The smallest number of drones destroyed in a single day was 24 on January 18.
September 2024 marked the first month since the invasion when drone attacks became a daily occurrence. The Ukrainian Air Force destroyed or jammed 1,107 drones in September.
The number of Russian drones destroyed by the Ukrainian military in January went up by 260 compared to September.
Trump says his administration has “meetings and talks” set with Ukraine, Russia and “various parties”
President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that his administration has “meetings and talks” set with Ukraine, Russia and “various parties,” CNN said.
“We’re dealing with Ukraine and Russia, we have meetings and talks scheduled with various parties, including Ukraine and Russia,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening at Joint Base Andrews.
President Donald Trump on January 22 threatened to impose “high levels” of sanctions on Russia and tariffs on imports from there if the country did not reach a settlement to end its war against Ukraine.
“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said on January 23 he wanted to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin as soon as possible to secure an end to the war with Ukraine
“Moscow is open for dialogue with the United States that will be built on an equal and mutually respectful basis,” Putin said ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
No-one in U.S. President Donald Trump’s new administration has made contact with the Kremlin about setting up a meeting with Vladimir Putin, Russian officials said on January 27.
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, denied reports that Trump had spoken to Putin in recent days. Trump on Friday said his administration has already had “very serious” discussions with Russia about its war in Ukraine.