Ukraine Hits Russia’s Druzhba Pipeline Pumping Station in Renewed Drone Strike

Ukrainian drones have struck the Unecha oil pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk region, inflicting fresh damage on the Druzhba pipeline, one of Moscow’s key routes for exporting crude to Europe.

The Gaze reports this, citing a post by Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, who confirmed the attack late on August 21. 

He said the operation was carried out by the 14th Regiment of his drone forces.“By the end of August 21, the Unecha station is out. Our birds of the 14th regiment delivered a sting to the enemy,” Brovdi wrote, adding the Hungarian phrase “Ruszkik haza!” (“Russians, go home”).

The strike marked the second Ukrainian attack on the facility in just a week. A previous drone assault on August 18 destroyed several pumping stations and damaged nearby technical buildings.

The Unecha station is a critical node in the 5,500-kilometer Druzhba pipeline, which transports up to 60 million tons of Russian oil annually. Operated by state-owned Transneft, the facility helps feed the Mozyr refinery in Belarus and Russia’s Ust-Luga terminal on the Baltic Sea. 

Its proximity to Ukraine’s border, just 60 kilometers away, has made it especially vulnerable to cross-border strikes. 

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó confirmed that oil flows to Hungary had stopped, calling the repeated strikes “another attack on Hungary’s energy security” and an attempt to drag his country into the war. He vowed that Budapest would continue to pursue peace initiatives and defend its national interests.

Meanwhile, Russia has faced a series of setbacks in its energy infrastructure. Hours before the Unecha strike, a major fire broke out at the Lukoil refinery in Volgograd following a separate drone attack.

As The Gaze reported earlier, Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian oil refineries knocked out a sizeable portion of the country’s processing capacity, triggering gasoline shortages and record-high wholesale prices.