MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. Transneft has discovered explosives at the Novozybkov pumping station of the Druzhba export oil pipeline in the Bryansk Region but the station has not been damaged, official spokesman of the Russian pipeline operator Igor Dyomin told TASS.
"Indeed explosives were found on the territory of the Novozybkov pumping station yesterday night and this morning, in broken improvised plastic cases with a striking warhead in the form of steel pellets. The casings presumably disintegrated when hitting ground after being dropped from a drone. At noon today, we saw another explosive device dropped from a drone, probably similar to the previous two," Dyomin said.
The Novozybkov pumping station has not pumped any oil in 2023 and the tankfarm is empty, the spokesman said. "The nature of the warhead - steel pellets - evidence that saboteurs intended to kill civilian staff members servicing the Druzhba oil pipeline station, rather than destroy the facility. Investigative actions are underway. The Novozybkov pumping station is intact," he added.
The Druzhba oil pipeline supplies Belarusian refineries and transits it to Europe.