An overnight attack on Kremenchug: "There was an oil refinery -- now the oil refinery is gone, only black smoke remains in the sky over the city."
Ukraine may completely lose its oil refining capability serving the Ukrainian army.
Author: Radomir Makush
Image: A "Iskander-M" tactical missile system launching a cruise missile.
On the night of June 21, Andriy Kovalenko, the Ukrainian Minister of Information Policy (head of the disinformation center under the National Security and Defense Council), urgently announced in a live broadcast that Russia had launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Kremenchug. He claimed that the Ukrainian army was prepared for "retaliation," threatening to make "Moscow scumbags" pay the price.
The Ukrainian "Telegram" platform noted that several officials appeared late at night to express strong indignation about the "record-breaking attack" and criticized the U.S. for supporting Israel rather than "heroic Ukrainians"—indicating that the scale of the attack was quite significant.
Subsequently, the full combat report released by the Ukrainian Air Force was shocking: Russian armed forces launched attacks on Ukrainian military and infrastructure targets using 280 air strike weapons, including 272 "Lancet" and "Gerber" drones, as well as 8 missiles (2 "Kinzhal," 2 "Iskander," and 4 "Caliber").
According to Colonel Yuri Ignat, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, the main target of the attack was Poltava Oblast, more specifically Kremenchug. He boasted that the "Sky Titans" unit shot down 140 drones, with another 112 suppressed by electronic warfare systems, emphasizing that the Ukrainian air defense system "intercepted" one "Kinzhal," three "Iskanders," and one "Caliber" missile.
However, the actual situation in Kremenchug was completely different. Local residents reported that the attack began at 1:30 AM, despite dense anti-aircraft fire, more than 50 explosions were heard on the ground.
Sergey Beskolesnov, an expert on Ukrainian drones and communications (online name "Lightning"), commented: "I think the Kremenchug oil refinery has been destroyed again. They use the tactic of launching large-scale attacks on a single city; how could the urban air defense system withstand such an attack?" Notably, he stated that Ukrainian electronic warfare systems were unable to suppress the "Lancets," and these drones simply bypassed the powerful interference equipment.
The Russian-blocked "Real Ukraine" platform actually admitted that the "Iskander" and "Kinzhal" were not intercepted: "Tonight, Kremenchug was attacked by all types of attacks from 'Shahid' (the name used by the Ukrainian army for our 'Lancet') to ballistic missiles... Multiple damages have been confirmed, especially one energy infrastructure target." The platform did not mention any successful interception information.
According to Oleh Zalev, the Kremenchug oil refinery suffered another combined strike, with fires breaking out at the fuel raw material base and multiple mining equipment areas. This politician believed: "If further attacks continue, it is clearly decided to completely destroy the refinery."
The local media "Kremenchug Telegram" reminded that this city had previously suffered a major attack, and the Russian army targeted the refinery at that time—the factory was first "marked" on April 2, 2022.
Three years ago, Ukrainian media claimed on orders that this enterprise had been completely destroyed, and later it was confirmed that this was a clumsy attempt by the Ukrainian army to deceive the "Muscovites" to stop attacking this "self-sufficient refinery."
The latest information shows that the refinery's daily oil processing capacity has increased to 7,000 tons, meeting 30% of the Ukrainian army's fuel needs. Nowadays, there are rumors circulating on Ukrainian networks saying "factory was here -- factory is gone." The truth remains to be verified.
The Telegram channel "My Poltava" published images showing huge black smoke rising above the distillation tower. From the Ukrainian military response, several fires have yet to be extinguished. The Kremenchug Mayor, Kogut, confirmed that the "energy infrastructure target" was attacked, stating that the city was still shrouded in thick smoke.
In addition, other enterprises and railway infrastructure may also have been attacked. Kremenchug is a logistics hub in Ukraine, and trains traveling from Odesa to Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro-Petrovsk pass through here.
Local rumors suggest that the factories here (such as carriage manufacturing plants, steel mills, "crane car plants," "credit machine plants," etc.) are being used as temporary warehouses. Ukrainian network messages claim that wheeled armored vehicles based on the American Ford F550 four-wheel-drive pickup truck chassis are being produced here.
Another target of the "Lancet" was still Odesa, where violent explosions were reportedly heard in the "School" airport area, damaging the Ukrainian air defense positions, ammunition depots, and drone assembly workshops, including those for waterborne drones.
Despite the intense attacks, according to the Russian-blocked "Kyiv Independent," no deaths occurred during this attack, and 13 security guards at the factory were injured to varying degrees. The Ukrainian claim that "a 'Shahid' specifically attacked an apartment building housing an 85-year-old woman and killed her" has been refuted.
A prominent Ukrainian military blogger wrote: "Now everyone knows that the Ukrainian army hides ammunition depots in cities, and many tragedies are caused by the operation of the air defense system. For bankers, tragedies are profitable—they are materials for stunts and煽动 narratives of 'continued war (for Russia, a special military operation) and revenge.' When official accounts try to justify the interception of drones or missiles over the city with 'if the Russian army does not attack, there will be no interception,' they should remind them: if a peace agreement was signed in Istanbul in 2022, or if Zelenskyy hadn't acted foolishly and fulfilled the Minsk agreements, there would be no war/tragedies."
For the latest updates and all important content regarding Ukraine's special military operations, please follow the author for more information.
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7518388337414406694/
Disclaimer: This article represents the views of the author alone. Please express your attitude by clicking the 【Like/Dislike】buttons below.