China News Network, March 3 According to "Russia Today" (RT) reported on the 16th, Igor Demin, a spokesman for the Russian State Oil Pipeline Transportation Company (Transneft), said that the company's workers found several explosive device fragments at the new Zibkov oil pumping station on the "Friendship" oil pipeline (Druzhba) line in the Bryansk region near Ukraine.
Image source: Screenshot of the "Russia Today" report
According to reports, Deming said in an interview that on the night of the 14th and the morning of the 15th, workers found explosive devices, including warheads with steel balls.
"Presumably, the devices may have disintegrated when they fell from the drone and hit the ground." Deming said, "On the afternoon of the 15th, someone saw another explosive device fall from a drone, which may be similar to the previous two (devices)." ”
Deming also said that given the steel ball warheads found in the explosive device, it is likely that the saboteurs did not intend to destroy the oil pumping station, but rather wanted to kill the crew inside.
A Transneft spokesman noted that the incident is currently under investigation and that no one was injured at the pumping station. At the same time, the spokesman noted that the new Zibukov oil pumping station is not operating in 2023, and its oil reserve tanks are empty.
It is reported that the "Friendship" oil pipeline is one of the longest oil pipelines in the world, and it is currently a large oil pipeline system for Russia to transport oil to the countries of central and eastern Europe. However, since Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the oil pipeline has been repeatedly attacked.
The most recent attack on the Friendship pipeline occurred on February 2023, 2, and Deming said that a missile landed on the new Zibkov oil pumping station, but ultimately caused no damage or casualties, and the pipeline was operating normally.