Attacks on infrastructure, the shutdown of the Samara Oil Refinery, and a compromise in Miass: NeMoskva's nightly review
Overnight drone attacks injured residents in Kuban and completely shut down an oil refinery in the Samara region. Meanwhile, a compromise was reached between Lenin and the Russian Orthodox Church in the Urals, the search for a missing family in Siberia was suspended, and the Aerospace Forces received a new commander-in-chief. The top news from Russia's regions over the past night is in the "NeMoskva" digest.
Night drone strikes: wounded in Krasnodar Krai and paralysis of Samara Oil Refinery
On the night of June 11, Ukrainian drones attacked several Russian regions. Three people were injured in the attacks in the Krasnodar Krai. Governor Veniamin Kondratyev clarified that two civilians were injured when a drone struck an apartment building in the center of Krasnodar, and another person was injured in the Seversky District. According to the regional task force, a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the village of Afipsky after the drone strike.
Even more severe consequences of the airstrike were recorded in the Samara region. The local Kuibyshev Oil Refinery was forced to completely halt oil refining after a recent attack by Ukrainian drones. According to Reuters, a massive fire completely disabled two primary processing units. Their combined capacity was approximately 20 tons of hydrocarbons per day, paralyzing the operations of one of the largest enterprises in the Samara oil hub.
In the Urals, Lenin and the Russian Orthodox Church chapel were forced to compete for sponsors' money.
In the city of Miass, Chelyabinsk Oblast, local authorities approved an unusual compromise for the reconstruction of Truda Square. Officials allowed the simultaneous installation of a monument to Vladimir Lenin and an Orthodox chapel on the same site. Representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) demanded the restoration of the monument to the leader of the proletariat (to replace the one dismantled in 2021 due to dilapidation), while the Russian Orthodox Church proposed the construction of a chapel in memory of the cathedral blown up there in the 1930s.
The Miass City Hall has set strict financial conditions: both competing projects must be financed exclusively through voluntary donations from city residents and philanthropists into special accounts. Any project that fails to raise at least 50% of the required construction funds by the official deadline will be automatically cancelled and annulled.
Taiga and bears: the search for a missing family in Krasnoyarsk Krai has been suspended.
In the Krasnoyarsk Krai, the search and rescue operation headquarters has decided to temporarily suspend the active search for the Usoltsev family to "analyze the available results." The family members disappeared without a trace in the taiga. Searchers have recovered a single trace—a fragment of a Nordic walking pole—in the suspected area. The situation is further complicated by the fact that rescuers also spotted fresh bear tracks in the same area.
The search operation continued nonstop from June 4 to 9. Investigative Committee investigators, police officers, and volunteers surveyed approximately one thousand square meters of forest and rocky terrain at the foot of Buratinka and Malvinka cliffs. Thermal imaging drones were regularly launched to survey the remote areas, but the multi-day search has yet to yield any significant results.
The death of Lyudmila Chursina and the new commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces with a "Kyiv" past
People's Artist of the USSR Lyudmila Chursina has died at the age of 84 after a long and serious illness. During her long career, the legendary theater and film actress starred in over 100 films, including "The Don Story," "Gloomy River," and "The Shield and the Sword." The official funeral will take place on June 12, and she will be buried at the Sestroretskoye Cemetery near St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially announced major personnel changes in the army's leadership. Colonel General Alexander Chaiko has been appointed the new Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). From 2019 to 2021, he led the Russian troop group in Syria, then commanded the Eastern Military District, and in the spring of 2022, he led the offensive on Kyiv. He had direct operational command of the army units responsible for the mass killings of civilians in the Kyiv region.
