Oil depot blaze in Russia’s Engels on fifth day after Ukrainian strike

A strategic oil storage facility in Engels, Saratov Oblast, Russia, continues burning for the fifth consecutive day following a Ukrainian drone strike, with at least three fuel tanks destroyed for now.

Drones struck Russia’s Kristall federal reserve oil depot, which stores fuel for the Engels-2 strategic bomber airbase, on 8 January, triggering a fire. The Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that defense forces attacked the Crystal Combine oil depot with drones in the early hours of 8 January. The facility supplied fuel to Engels-2 airfield, which houses Tu-95MS bombers used for strikes against Ukrainian civilian targets. The attack on the facility, 600 km from Ukraine’s borders, marked another strike in Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign against Russian military targets.

On 12 January, Saratov Oblast Governor Roman Busargin reported via Telegram that “controlled fuel burning” continues at the “industrial facility” in Engels. Local authorities previously declared a state of emergency in the area. On 10 January, the same official claimed the fuel burnout could continue for “about two more days.”

Russian publication Kommersant reported that Alexey Kostyuk, first deputy head of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry’s Saratov Oblast division, said that two firefighters died battling the blaze and will be awarded posthumously.

Latest reports indicate the attack and the subsequent ongoing fire destroyed three fuel tanks and damaged six others, disabling storage capacity of nearly 800,000 tons. The Ukrainian General Staff noted that the strike created significant logistics problems for the Russian army and substantially reduced its capability to conduct strikes against Ukrainian cities and civilian objects.

As of 2023, this airbase was the only facility hosting Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and regularly launching cruise missile strikes against Ukraine.

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