On the night of 2 November, Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on Russia's Samara region. According to eyewitness photographs analysed by Astra, the drones targeted the Samara Oil Pumping and Dispatch Station (LPDS).
Following the strike, which was also confirmed by the Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+, a major fire broke out at the facility, sending a thick column of black smoke into the sky.
The Samara LPDS, owned by Transneft, is Russia's largest oil transportation and distribution hub. The facility is used to receive, store and transport crude oil.
Covering more than 216 hectares, the station has a tank farm comprising 71 storage tanks with a combined capacity of over 1.6 million cubic metres of oil.
Four major oil pipelines converge at the facility: Almetyevsk–Kuibyshev, Kaltasy–Kuibyshev, Nizhnevartovsk–Kurgan–Kuibyshev and Guryev–Kuibyshev.
The station receives oil from Western Siberia, Tatarstan, Orenburg and Kazakhstan for onward transportation.
This was the fifth strike on the Samara LPDS within a month. Drones previously attacked the station on 2, 7, 10 and 11 October. Each attack was followed by a fire at the facility.
