Ukrainian drone attacks target Russian energy infrastructure and Moscow, officials say

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine targetted Russian energy infrastructure with drones, disrupting air traffic across the country and sending several drones towards Moscow for the third straight night, Russian authorities said on Wednesday.

Russian air defence units destroyed a total of 100 Ukrainian drones overnight, including six over the Moscow region, and the rest over 11 regions and Crimea, the Russian defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

Kyiv has kept up long-range drone strikes on Moscow and other Russian regions in recent months, saying the aim is to hit energy, military and industrial assets, sap Russia's war economy and show Russians the conflict is no longer distant.

A storage container containing fuel and lubricants in the city of Simferopol in Russian-annexed Crimea was hit by a Ukrainian drone and caught fire, the Moscow-installed governor said on the Telegram messaging app.

There were no casualties and emergency services were working at the scene, the governor, Sergei Aksyonov, wrote on Telegram.

Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya said three of Moscow's four airports, and several others throughout the country, were closed at some point in the night for safety reasons.

In the Republic of Mari El, in the eastern part of European Russia and about 800 kilometres (497 miles) from Moscow, strikes were recorded near one of the region's industrial facilities, regional authorities said, adding there was no destruction.

South of Mari El, in the Ulyanovsk region, a short-lived fire broke out at a site of destroyed drones, the region's governor, Alexei Russkikh, said on Telegram. It was not immediately clear what was targeted there. Unofficial news Telegram channels reported that Kyiv tried to hit oil infrastructure there.

Ukraine also launched several drones targeting the Budyonnovsk industrial zone in Russia's Stavropol region, the region's governor, Vladimir Vladimirov, said on Telegram. The Russian defence ministry said its units downed two drones over the region, located in the country's south.

The attack caused no "significant" damage, and there were no casualties, Vladimirov said on the Telegram messaging app.

According to Ukrainian media, including the RBK-Ukraine media outlet, Kyiv attacked the Stavrolen chemical plant in the Budyonnovsk zone, a part of Russia's Lukoil group.

According to Russian and Ukrainian media, Stavrolen is one of Russia's main producers of polyethylene and polypropylene.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports of the attack on Stavrolen. Stavropol's governor did not disclose what was attacked in Budyonnovsk.

Russia typically gives limited details about the effects of Ukrainian strikes on its territory unless civilians or civilian infrastructure are hit.

Over the previous two nights, Russia's units destroyed 35 Ukrainian drones over the Moscow region, the Russian defence ministry said. There was no damage reported. 

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Reuters reporters in Moscow;Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)