Ukraine-launched drone sparks fire at Russia's Volgograd refinery, regional governor says

(Reuters) - An overnight drone attack launched from Ukraine sparked a brief fire at an oil refinery in the Volgograd region in southern Russia, the region's governor said on Sunday.

"The fire was extinguished. There were no casualties,” Andrey Bocharov, the governor, said on the local administration's Telegram messaging channel.

The Russian Telegram channel Baza, which is close to the security services, posted photos of flames rising into dark skies over what looked like an industrial building with a tall chimney.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from oil producer Lukoil, which owns the refinery, or from Kyiv.

Drone attacks on energy facilities inside Russia's territory have become more frequent in the past few months. Kyiv officials say that they conduct the attacks to undermine Russia's war effort and respond to Moscow's strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by William Mallard)