At least two oil and gas facilities were targeted in overnight drone strikes in western Russia, officials stated Friday amidst magnifying drone attacks across Russian regions near the border with Ukraine.? Two long-range drones attacked fuel and energy complex items at about 3 a.m.,? said Vasily Anohin, the acting guv of the Smolensk region near the border with Belarus.He said there was damage and no-one was injured in the strike.The number of drone strikes on targets in Russia have increased drastically in recent weeks ahead of what is anticipated to be an impending Ukrainian counteroffensive.? Baza, a Telegram channel with purported links in Russia?s security services, recognized one of the websites in Smolensk area as a refiniery belonging to state pipeline company Transneft in the village of Peresna.A 2nd drone targeted a gas circulation station and damaged an administrative structure in the village of Divasy, Baza said.This is the 2nd attack on Russian oil facilities today.
Ukraine complies with a policy of neither confirming nor rejecting its role in attacks on Russian territory.Also on Friday, Russian air defense systems shot down? numerous Ukrainian drones? in the Kursk oblast near the border with Ukraine, according to Governor Roman Starovoit.He released video of a house block and a number of private houses that he stated were harmed as an outcome of the drone strikes.Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the surrounding Bryansk area, implicated Ukraine?s forces of shelling two villages.He said the attack set two houses on fire but did not trigger any injuries.The Kaluga region, which borders both Bryansk, Smolensk along with Moscow areas but does not share a border with Ukraine, likewise reported early morning explosions.Kaluga region Governor Vladislav Shapsha said an? unknown things? blew up upon impact in a forest and did not cause any damage.