Operator: Ukraine uses drones to attack oil pipeline connecting Caspian Sea to Black Sea, disrupting important pumping station

Ukraine has used drones to attack an oil pipeline connecting the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea in southern Russia, causing the shutdown of a key pumping station, the facility's operator said today.

A statement from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which transports oil from Kazakhstan to Europe, said the attack was carried out with seven drones filled with explosives and metal parts, in order to disrupt the operation of the installation and eliminate operational personnel at the station.

The Kropotkinskaya pumping station, near the Russian city of Stavropol, was targeted, which is the largest on the route of the oil pipeline, which is now operating at reduced capacity.

It added that there were no casualties among CPC personnel, and consortium employees managed to prevent the threat of an oil spill.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium is 24 percent owned by Russia, 19 percent by Kazakhstan, and 15 percent by US oil giant Chevron, according to data published on the company's website.

"All shareholders of the international consortium, including representatives of American and European companies, have been informed of the attack," the CPC said.

The more than 1.500-kilometer-long pipeline mainly transports oil from Kazakhstan through Russia to the Black Sea, and then to Europe.

Kyiv has not yet reported that the attack was carried out.

Three years since the beginning of the Russian attack on Ukraine and the almost daily bombing, Ukraine is retaliating with regular attacks on oil storage facilities and other infrastructure related to the Russian oil sector, which is one of Moscow's main sources of financing its offensive against Ukraine.

Russia announced today that it had shot down 90 Ukrainian drones overnight, nearly 40 of them over the Sea of ​​Azov, as well as a Neptune anti-ship cruise missile, and no casualties were reported.

Ukraine, for its part, reported today that it had shot down 83 of the 147 drones fired by Russia, and that 59 drones had disappeared from radar screens. No damage was reported.