Explosions rock Russia’s Yaroslavl as authorities report drone strike on industrial facility

Explosions were heard in the Russian city of Yaroslavl on the morning of 19 May. Authorities said the region had come under a UAV attack and that a drone had struck an industrial facility. A motorway towards Moscow was temporarily closed, while the target may have been an oil refinery located in the south-west of the city.

Source: Mikhail Yevrayev, governor of Yaroslavl Oblast; the Russian Telegram channel Astra; Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya)

Quote from Yevrayev: "Our region has come under an enemy attack by Ukrainian UAVs. To ensure safety, all traffic leaving Yaroslavl towards Moscow has been suspended from the junction of Moskovsky Avenue and the Southwestern Ring Road."

Details: Afterwards, Astra, citing local residents, reported that explosions had been heard in Yaroslavl.

Yevrayev later said that a drone had struck an industrial site, causing a fire.

"Most of the UAVs were shot down, but there was a hit on an industrial facility. Firefighters are working on extinguishing the fire," the governor said.

He added that there were no casualties and that traffic towards Moscow had been restored.

Rosaviatsiya announced on the night of 18-19 May that several Russian airports had been temporarily closed.

As of the morning of 19 May, restrictions on arrivals and departures remained in place at airports in Yaroslavl, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Pskov, Ivanovo and Cherepovets.

Yaroslavl is home to the Yaroslavl oil pumping station and the Slavneft-YANOS (Yaroslavsky) refinery, one of the key facilities in Russia's oil refining industry. The refinery processes around 15 million tonnes of oil annually, ranking fourth in terms of refining volume in Russia.

The refinery has repeatedly been targeted by drones, including attacks on 8 and 13 May.

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