Photo: Exilenova+/Telegram
The distance from Ukraine’s border to the city of Almetyevsk is roughly 1,300 km.
During the night of February 23, residents of Almetyevsk in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan reported multiple explosions and a large fire. According to the Russian opposition outlet ASTRA, a drone strike likely ignited the Kaleikino oil pumping station located near the village of the same name. Eyewitness footage also shows Russian Emergency Ministry vehicles arriving at the scene.
What is known about the Kaleikino station
Reports say the Kaleikino oil pumping station is the largest facility operated by Transneft–Prikamye in the Almetyevsk district. It serves as a major transportation hub where crude oil of different grades from Western Siberia, Tatarstan, Udmurtia, and Bashkortostan is received and blended. The oil is stored in multiple tanks and then pumped through trunk pipelines, including routes toward the Nizhnekamsk refinery and export destinations.
Although Kaleikino is not the Druzhba pipeline itself, it is one of the key starting points that feeds oil into the well-known Druzhba system.
Earlier, on the night of February 19, drones also targeted Russia’s Pskov region. Unmanned aerial vehicles struck an oil depot in the city of Velikiye Luki, where protective netting had been installed over the storage tanks. Regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov confirmed the attack and said one of the fuel reservoirs caught fire.
