On the night of April 21, drones of the Alfa Special Operations Center of the SBU caused a large-scale fire at the Samara linear production and dispatch station (LVDS). The facility is a critical hub for the formation of the Russian Urals oil export grade.
The successful operation was reported by an informed interlocutor, writes UP, informs the PromPolitInform portal.
According to preliminary data from the Ukrainian side, as a result of an attack by SBU drones, five tanks with crude oil were damaged, each with a capacity of 20 thousand cubic meters.
Technological value of Samara station
LVDS Samara is a key component of Russia’s oil transportation infrastructure. It is at this station that a complex technological process takes place: mixing of high and low sulfur oil coming from different fields. This is necessary to create a stable variety of Urals, which the aggressor country sends for export.
The defeat of such a nodal point has a direct impact on the economy of the Russian Federation. According to the source, the withdrawal of the station from operation reduces Russia’s ability to form export batches and fulfill the terms of contracts.
“The balance of raw materials is being disrupted, logistics and storage costs are rising, and there are also risks of supply disruption. As a result, Russia receives less and less income from the sale of oil, which can be directed to the war against Ukraine,” the source said.
Data on the owner and reaction of the Russian Federation
According to The Moscow Times, the Samara station belongs to Transneft-Druzhba JSC – it is a branch of Transneft PJSC, which directly controls the Druzhba pipeline.
For his part, the governor of the Samara region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev confirmed the fact of a night attack on an industrial enterprise in the region. He announced the “fall of the UAV” and said that, according to official data of the Russian side, there were no dead and injured as a result of the incident.
Damage to the tank farm and disruption of the control station create significant logistical challenges for the Russian oil industry, forcing the aggressor to spend additional resources to restore the strategic facility.
Context
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Ukraine could resume oil transportation to Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline today, April 21 – technical tests of the system are planned for this date.
The transit of oil through Druzhba stopped at the end of January 2026. Ukraine explained this by the consequences of Russian shelling. It was through this pipeline that Hungary and Slovakia received most of the oil.
In response, Hungary blocked a loan of 90 billion euros for Ukraine from the EU until the resumption of supplies. Slovakia, in turn, stated that it would not provide Ukraine with emergency electricity supplies until Druzhba was operational.
Ukraine stressed that transit stopped due to Russian attacks, and suggested that the European Union use alternative routes for oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia, in particular the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline.
At the same time, Hungary and Slovakia referred to satellite images, which, according to them, indicated the absence of damage to the pipeline itself. Because of this, stopping Friendship there was considered a political decision and a way of blackmail.
Photo – screenshot from google.maps
