Satellite confirms damage to strategic aviation fuel storage facility in Engels
Satellite images have confirmed the damage to the oil storage facility of the Rosreserve’s Kristall plant in Engels, which stores jet fuel for Russia’s strategic aviation.
High-quality images of the damage were posted by an AviVector intern on X.
On the night of June 6, the Ukrainian Defense Forces attacked several important military facilities in Russia. In particular, around 3:00 a.m., drones hit the Kristall oil storage base in Engels, the Saratov region.
It is this oil storage base that provides fuel to the Engels-2 military airfield located nearby. This is where Russian Tu-95MS and Tu-160 aircraft take off for missile strikes against Ukraine.
According to satellite imagery as of June 6, the fire has engulfed four fuel tanks in two different locations at the oil depot.
The governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, confirmed the UAV attack on Engels and stated that “as a result of the attack, a fire broke out at one of the industrial enterprises.”
The June 6 attack was the first Ukrainian attack on the Russian fuel and energy complex in a long time.
The most recent attack was on March 19 against the Kavkazskaya oil transshipment point in the Krasnodar region.
A hit by Ukrainian drones caused depressurization of oil tanks, which led to a large-scale fire that the Russians were unable to extinguish for several days.
The Kavkazkaya oil transshipment point is an important element of a large chain of oil transportation to Novorossiysk, from where it is exported to other countries. The point itself is designed to transship Russian oil by rail to the pipeline system of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium CJSC in the amount of 6 million tons per year.
This is not the first successful attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kristall oil storage facility. Two attacks took place in January 2025 in a row.
The first attack took place on January 8 and caused a fire that Russian firefighters managed to extinguish only on January 13. A second successful attack took place on the night of January 13-14.
