Fire continues at oil depot in Russia’s Rostov region following drone strike

At least 18 people have been injured in a fire at an oil depot in Russia’s southern Rostov region, prompting the town of Proletarsk to declare a state of emergency, the district administration reported on Monday.

UPDATE
Rostov Governor Vladimir Golubev said on Monday that at least 41 firemen had been injured while trying to contain the fire, 18 of whom had been hospitalised. “Firefighting units continue to extinguish the fire in Proletarsk,” Golubev wrote.

It is unclear whether the figure reported by Golubev accounts for the initial reports of 18 people injured in the fire.

The fire, which broke out following a Ukrainian drone strike in the early hours of Sunday morning, has already been burning for over 24 hours. “Nothing has changed so far”, Valery Gorich, the head of the Proletarsk district administration, told local news outlet 161.ru, adding that no progress had been made in even bringing the blaze under control.

Firefighters and emergency crews are continuing to work at the site. Five of the 18 victims are in a serious condition, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, which stressed that despite the seriousness of the fire, there was no threat to nearby residential or other industrial facilities.

The Rostov region, which borders the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine, is a frequent target for drone attacks, including a strike on an oil depot in the town of Tsimlyansk last month.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his forces for hitting oil facilities in Russia, saying the attacks would help bring a “just end” to the conflict.