Blaze erupts at industrial site in Russia's Novoshakhstinsk after drone attack

MOSCOW (Reuters) -A fire has started following a drone at an industrial site strike in Russia's southern Novoshakhtinsk city, home to an oil refinery, authorities said on Thursday, as Ukraine stepped up attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure.

"A fire broke out at one of the industrial enterprises in Novoshakhtinsk. Preliminarily, no one was hurt. Emergency services are working at the scene," said Yury Slyusar, the acting governor of the Rostov region, without specifying the target of the attack.

Novoshakhtinsk refinery, which sells fuel mainly for export, has annual capacity of 5 million metric tons of oil, or around 100,000 barrels per day.

Since the start of August, Ukraine has targeted a number of Russian oil refineries, including Novokuibyshevsk, Syzran, Ryazan and Volgograd.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Alex Richardson)