RUSSIA, TAMBOV OBLAST, Oct. 20 — The fire broke out on the territory of the Nikolskoye linear production and dispatch station in the Tambov oblast of Russia, Militarnyi, a Ukrainian defense media outlet, said, citing monitoring channel Exilenova+.

Evgeny Pervyshov, the governor of the Tambov oblast, said that Ukraine launched four drones to attack one of the businesses in the region. He didn’t disclose what business he was talking about.  

According to Russian officials, air defence downed three drones, while one drone hit the business’s territory, causing a fire. No casualties were reported, Pervyshov added.

The Nikolskoye linear production and dispatch station is a Russian oil infrastructure object that is part of the Druzhba pipeline system, the world’s largest system of main oil pipelines.

The pipeline served by the damaged station is 5,500 kilometers (3,418 miles) long and transports oil to Tambov and neighboring regions in central Russia.

Militarnyi said that the regional alert system declared a drone attack at 3:38 a.m. Locals published footage of the fire on the station’s territory.

Pumping equipment and an automatic pressure control system, both necessary for the continuous transport of oil, work at the object.

As for now, Ukrainian forces have not confirmed the drone attack on the Nikolskoye linear production and dispatch station on Oct. 20. 

Gwara Media couldn’t independently determine the cause of fire at the Nikolskoye linear production and dispatch station.  

In August 2025, Ukrainian drones attacked the Nekolsoye-1 oil pumping station in the Tombov oblast, located several miles from the Nikolskoye station. That day, a fire broke out on the site, and oil pumping through the Druzhba pipeline was halted.

On Oct. 11, Donald Trump, the US president, announced an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, this announcement came as a surprise to him. Ukraine agreed to a pause in attacks on Russian oil refineries, hoping for similar steps from Russia.

Russia ignored the ceasefire and continued its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy said that Ukraine removed internal limits for the military and resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries.

In response to Ukraine’s renewed attacks, Washington applied pressure through measures such as limiting intelligence sharing, disrupting Starlink satellite communications for the military, and delaying the delivery of air defense systems. 

Trump criticized Kyiv, citing the risk of rising oil prices, after he had recently announced the renewal of Russian diesel fuel purchases in the US and on global markets.

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