Firefighters doused a blaze that raged for hours at the Ufimsky oil refinery in the Russian city of Ufa, authorities said on Monday, but gave no details of possible casulties and the cause was not immediately clear.
The Bashneft-owned refinery, about 1,500 km (932 miles) east of the border with Ukraine, has capacity of 168,000 bpd, LSEG data shows, with Russian media saying its oil supply comes mainly from surrounding Bashkiria and western Siberia.
“An open fire … has been extinguished,” the region’s emergency ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
“No excess of harmful substances has been recorded near the plant.”
Earlier, it said the fire broke out in the vicinity of an incinerator, but gave no detail of a possible cause. Several Russian channels on Telegram, including the SHOT Telegram, said the fire followed an explosion at the refinery, but Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
There were no overnight reports of a drone attack on Bashkiria, sandwiched between the Volga river and the Ural mountains.
The Russian defence ministry said its air defence units downed seven Ukrainian drones overnight over Russia, but Bashkiria did not figure on its list.
The ministry gives only a tally of destroyed drones, not the number launched.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Its forces have systematically targeted Russian energy infrastructure to try to disrupt Russia’s economy and the ability to fund the war in Ukraine.
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