THE Ukraine hit energy facilities with drones in the Russian region Smolensk, about 400 kilometers from the border, a source in the Ukrainian defense sector said today, stressing that these are “legitimate targets”.

Ukrainian drones hit “two oil tanks” of Russian state oil company Rosneft, which stored “26,000 cubic meters of fuel” during the operation, which was organized by Ukraine’s SBU security service, the source said.

From the attack large fires were caused and facility staff were forced to evacuate.

“The SBU continues to effectively destroy military infrastructure that supplies fuel to the Russian military in Ukraine,” the source commented. “These facilities are and will remain a perfectly legitimate target,” he concluded.

Earlier local officials had stated that a fire broke out in energy facilities in Russia’s Smolensk region, while citizens were forced to evacuate their homes in an area of ​​Lipetsk region, in southwestern Russia, after a drone crashed into an industrial park.

“Our region is again under attack by Ukrainian drones,” Smolensk governor Vassily Anokhin said on Telegram.

“As a result of the enemy’s attack on energy and fuel facilities, fires broke out in the Smolensk and Yartsevo regions,” he added without elaborating.

Separately, Igor Artamonov, governor of the Lipetsk region, said a drone fell in an industrial zone. There were no injuries from the incident, but residents of the surrounding area were forced to leave their homes for precautionary reasons.