MOSCOW, Sept 25 (Reuters) – Russia’s air defence units destroyed about 50 drones over the Rostov region overnight and a drone attack damaged the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, forcing it to suspend operations temporarily, Governor Yuri Slyusar said on Friday.
Heavy drone strikes on Russian refineries come after discussions at United Nations headquarters in New York on a potential energy-related ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he discussed with US President Donald Trump efforts to end the four-year-old war with Russia, including a potential bilateral ceasefire on energy-related targets.
Zelenskiy also warned Moscow at the UN that Ukraine would strike back and make the coming winter deeply painful for Russia if the two sides cannot agree a truce on energy assets before the cold sets in.
The Novoshakhtinsk refinery sells fuel mainly for export and has an annual capacity of 5 million metric tons of oil, or around 100,000 barrels per day.
Ukraine recently struck two major Russian oil refineries in Moscow and Yaroslavl.
(Reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Thomas Derpinghaus)
