Kathrine Frich
Shock spread among citizens from a Russian city after explosions lit up the sky far from the front lines.
Residents, unaccustomed to the realities of war, watched in disbelief as flames and smoke engulfed a key industrial site.
Shock in Perm
The city of Perm, around 1,700 kilometers from Ukraine, was rocked by drone strikes that hit a major oil refinery, according to reports cited by WP.
Witnesses described scenes of confusion as drones appeared overhead without any visible response from air defenses.
“Why isn’t anyone shooting at it? I saw it flying slowly. People, not the Tsar, but us, let’s do something!”
Videos shared online showed residents stopping in the streets or leaning from windows to film the incident as thick smoke rose into the sky.
Key target hit
The facility struck was identified as Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez, one of Russia’s largest refineries with an annual capacity of about 13 million tons.
The site plays a strategic role, supplying fuel for both civilian use and the military.
“It’s impossible they flew from Ukraine. They would have flown across the country and no one would have noticed? More likely from Kazakhstan,”
Speculation quickly spread among locals, with some suggesting the drones may have been launched from nearby locations.
Following the attack, concerns grew over both safety and health risks as smoke covered parts of the city.
“Imagine walking around without a mask and the smoke settling in your lungs,”
Local authorities sought to reassure residents, with meteorologists saying wind conditions should carry the smoke away in the coming days.
Defense questions
Military analyst Piotr Lewandowski said the incident highlights gaps in Russia’s air defense systems, particularly far from the Ukrainian border, as reported by WP.
He noted that deeper strikes have a stronger psychological impact on civilians unaccustomed to attacks.
“The residents of Belgorod have become accustomed to attacks, but 1,700 kilometers away, deep in Russia, this is the moment when people feel the war has come to them,”
He added that the scale of drone operations is often underestimated, pointing to previous attacks involving large numbers of unmanned aircraft.
Experts say strikes on refineries are aimed not only at military logistics but also at weakening Russia’s economic capacity.
“Attacks on refineries, such as those in Tuapse or Perm, have serious consequences. In practice, toxic industrial substances are released. Modern definitions allow such situations to be classified as the use of weapons of mass destruction,”
Russian authorities have so far offered limited public response to the latest strike, although President Vladimir Putin previously accused Kyiv of “terrorism” over similar attacks.
Sources: WP, Perm Novosti
