Zelenskyy says Ukraine struck key Russian oil, chemical facilities

KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Ukrainian forces struck an oil facility in Russia’s Yaroslavl region and a major chemical plant in the Tula region.In a post on X, Zelenskyy described the oil facility in Yaroslavl as important to Russia’s fuel reserves and said Ukrainian forces also hit the Azot chemical plant in Tula, which he said plays a key role in explosives production.He added that air traffic restrictions were imposed at six Russian airports and that air raid alerts had been declared across 28 Russian regions since Saturday evening.Zelenskyy also claimed Ukrainian forces targeted Russian military logistics facilities in occupied Ukrainian territory.”Ukraine is carrying out its plan of long-range sanctions against Russia and the assigned tasks regarding mid-range strikes in response to Russia’s refusal to end this war,” he said.The Ukrainian leader said Kyiv had offered Moscow multiple formats for negotiations, but accused Russia of responding with continued military escalation.”It stands to reason that the war is coming back to where it came from,” he said.Russian authorities confirmed that industrial fuel storage facilities were struck during what they described as a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on the Yaroslavl region.Regional Governor Mikhail Evraev said traffic toward Moscow had been halted while emergency crews worked to extinguish a fire.In the Tula region, Governor Dmitry Milyaev said debris from intercepted Ukrainian drones fell on the grounds of an industrial enterprise in the city of Novomoskovsk.”Emergency services have been organized to respond, and the nature of the damage is being determined,” Milyaev wrote on Telegram.Zelenskyy also accused Russia of launching 1,920 attack drones, 1,790 guided aerial bombs and 17 missiles against Ukraine over the past week.Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure have intensified in recent months. Earlier this month, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had targeted 15 Russian oil refineries between January and May and claimed that nearly 40% of Russia’s primary oil refining capacity was offline as of May.