On March 16, the strikes were targeted at plants in Russia’s
Samara region, more than 1,000 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. A fire
broke out at a processing unit in the Rosneft oil refinery in Syzran, as
reported by RIA Novosti quoting Governor Dmitry Azarov. This refinery can
process up to 8.5 million barrels of petroleum products annually, which is
around 170,000 barrels daily.
Moscow claimed that Kyiv was trying to disrupt the election
by attacking Russian infrastructure for several days, marking one of the
largest air attacks on Russia since President Vladimir Putin started the war
with Ukraine two years ago.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a video address
on March 16, thanked his military forces and intelligence for new
"long-range capabilities". However, he did not mention the attacks.
Russian forces shot down 17 drones over Krasnodar in
southern Russia, four over Moscow and others in six different regions, the
Russian defence ministry said in Telegram on March 17.
"The drones were neutralised, but a fire broke out as a
result of the fall of one of the devices," the operational headquarters of
the Krasnodar region in southern Russia said on Telegram.
Putin wins yet another election
Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin, in power since 1999,
has won by a large margin in Russia's election. He said the win proved Russia
was correct in opposing the West and sending soldiers to Ukraine.
Putin stated that this outcome should warn Western leaders
that they would have to deal with a more confident Russia for a long time, in
both war and peace.
"When we are consolidated - no matter who wants to
intimidate us, suppress us - nobody has ever succeeded in history. They have
not succeeded now, and they will not succeed ever in the future," Putin
said.