Ukrainian special forces targeted a key Russian-controlled fuel facility in occupied Crimea overnight. The strike hit a central component of the Hvardiiskyi oil depot located near the village of Karierne in Sakskyi district, according to Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces.

Ukrainian drone hits Hvardiiskyi fuel depot near Karierne

In the early hours of 10 November, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) launched a high-precision strike on the Hvardiiskyi oil depot, damaging its central pumping station. The depot is situated near the settlement of Karierne in Russian-occupied Sakskyi district of Crimea.

The SSO released video footage showing the final approach of the FP-2 middle-range drone until the impact from a drone’s onboard camera. The drone struck the pumping unit on the facility’s grounds, causing a powerful explosion. Ukrainian officials described the target as a key node in the fuel logistics chain used by Russian occupation forces across Crimea.

FP-2 drone used in the attack

Open-source intelligence group Cyberboroshno geolocated the hit to the central pumping station and said the facility was deliberately targeted to disable its core function.

“It was likely decided to strike the critical element without which the facility cannot operate,” Cyberboroshno noted, adding precise coordinates of the impact site.

Russian-linked monitoring groups reported the attack. 

On 6 November, Ukrainian forces hit more fuel depots in occupied Crimea, including one near the settlement of Hvardiiskyi, closer to the regional capital of Simferopol. 

Drones struck the Likhovskoy railway area in Russia’s Rostov oblast overnight on 9-10 November, according to Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+. The strike reportedly hit infrastructure near the Likhaya railway station, which sits less than 20 kilometers from the border of occupied Luhansk Oblast and roughly 180 kilometers from the front line.

New strike hits Likhovskoy rail node

Shortly before midnight on 9 November, Exilenova+ published a video of the strike that appeared to show a nighttime explosion near the rail junction in Likhovskoy, a settlement located along the North Caucasus Railway between Moscow and Rostov-on-Don. The footage, filmed from one of the tracks of Likaya station with a locomotive visible on the tracks, captured the distinct sound of a moped-like drone engine followed by two explosions in quick succession. Both blasts occurred in the same area near the station, producing adjacent fireballs. The exact target and the extent of the damage remain unclear.

Militarnyi reports that the area includes a fuel tank farm belonging to the company RN-Rostovnefteprodukt, known as the Likhovskaya oil depot. Its total fuel storage capacity is estimated at 26,400 m³.

Militarnyi suggested the oil depot may have been the intended target, citing its proximity to the blast and visible damage in the shared footage. Coordinates of the depot were also listed: 48.1451255, 40.1594278.

However, Petro Andriushchenko, the head of the Center for the Study of Occupation NGO, said the strike likely hit a traction substation and a control post at the rail facility.

Andriushchenko noted that the attack was the third drone strike on the same site, following previous attacks on 19 July and 2 August.