Attacks by drone on two oil terminals in Russia

UKRAINE launched multiple attacks on two Russian oil depots early yesterday and one of President Vladimir Putin's palaces was also hit by a mystery fire.

- Mark Reynolds

Kyiv's forces struck the sites used to fuel the Kremlin's war machine, close to annexed Crimea but inside Russia.

Flames roared into the night sky as three oil tanks exploded when they were attacked by armed drones at Temryuk in the Krasnodar region.

At nearby Port Kavkaz, an oil depot and port facilities burst into flames after being bombed.

The site in the Kerch Strait is near Putin's £3billion, 12-mile road and rail bridge linking the occupied Black Sea peninsula to Russia which was hit this week.

First reports from the oil depot strikes indicated that there were multiple casualties.

Nuclear

Kremlin officials declined to comment yesterday.

Russian security services were also investigating after an inferno gutted part of a mountain palace reportedly equipped with an underground nuclear bunker.

The Altai Mountains bolthole is said to include facilities for extracting deer blood from antlers for "medicinal" baths intended to boost sexual potency and restore youth, as used by the Russian president.

The blaze comes after several so-called "sabotage fires" at key Russian sites which have been attributed to opponents of Putin's two-year war on Ukraine.