Ukraine Says Drones Hit Russian Oil Depot Near Kursk, Sparking Blaze

Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said on Monday it struck an oil products depot near the village of Kotovo in Russia's Kursk region using unmanned aerial vehicles, setting a fire that was still burning hours after the reported strike. In a statement on the Telegram messaging app the SBU described the facility as a fuel supply point for Russian forces operating in the Kharkiv direction, framing the attack as a strike on a legitimate military target. Russian authorities gave a contrasting account. The regional emergency ministry said the fire at the depot had been extinguished and reported no casualties, without specifying the cause. Kursk regional governor Roman Starovoyt also posted on Telegram that emergency services had put out the blaze. There was no independent verification of damage or any immediate third-party confirmation of the strike's extent. The reported strike is part of a sustained campaign over the past year in which Kyiv has increasingly targeted Russian energy and logistics infrastructure with drones and other long-range weapons. Ukrainian and some Western officials estimate such attacks have inflicted billions of dollars in damage to refineries, storage facilities and transport networks. Moscow has condemned the strikes as terrorism, while Kyiv argues they degrade the Russian military's ability to sustain operations. Analysts say attacks on depots and fuel supplies are intended to disrupt logistics in frontline sectors such as Kharkiv, where fuel shortages can hinder vehicle movements, resupply and frontline rotation. The use of relatively low-cost drones has allowed Kyiv to strike deeper inside Russian territory with plausible deniability and limited exposure to conventional air defenses, a dynamic that has become a persistent feature of the conflict. The tit-for-tat targeting of energy infrastructure has broader humanitarian and economic implications. Russia's retaliatory strikes on Ukraine's power grid have produced widespread blackouts in past winters, forcing Kyiv to import electricity from European Union neighbors. As the war approaches its second anniversary, observers warn that continued escalation around logistics and energy nodes risks further civilian hardship and could complicate diplomatic avenues for de-escalation.