Ukraine Intensifies Drone Strikes on Russian Energy Infrastructure
Ukraine has escalated drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and energy sites, aiming to deplete resources for Moscow's war effort.
Ukrainian forces have significantly escalated their campaign of drone strikes against Russian energy infrastructure, targeting refineries and petrochemical plants across the country. Kyiv has stated the objective is to deprive Russia of the resources needed to fund its military operations.
The most recent attacks include a strike on the Orsknefteorgsintez oil refinery in the city of Orsk, a major industrial hub in the Orenburg region. The facility has a design capacity of approximately 6 million metric tons of oil per year.
On August 10, Ukraine's special forces reported hitting the ZapSibNeftekhim petrochemical plant in the Tyumen region, a facility owned by Sibur Holding with a design capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of base polymers annually. The same day, the TANECO oil refinery, operated by Russian firm Tatneft, was also struck. TANECO processed 17 million tons of crude oil in 2024.
Earlier in the week, a drone attack on the Ilsky oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region caused a fire and wounded five people, according to local authorities. The blaze was subsequently extinguished. The refinery, which has a design capacity of over 6 million metric tons per year, had also been targeted in a previous attack on July 10.
On August 6, a large-scale drone attack sparked a fire at the Yaroslavl refinery, located approximately 250 km northeast of Moscow. Regional governor Mikhail Evrayev confirmed that emergency crews managed to extinguish the blaze. The facility, which has a processing capacity of 15 million tons per year, was also targeted on July 27, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The campaign has also caused significant operational disruptions. The Volgograd refinery, owned by Lukoil, has completely halted crude oil processing since July 31 following a fire caused by a drone attack. The Saratov oil refinery, owned by Rosneft, stopped processing on August 2 after being hit. The Ryazan refinery, one of Russia's largest, halted operations on July 29 and could remain shut for two weeks. A strike on Lukoil's Perm refinery damaged and forced the shutdown of one of its crude distillation units.
Other facilities hit in recent weeks include refineries in Tyumen, Salavat, Afipsky, Syzran, Omsk, NORSI, Ufa, and Moscow. The attacks have also extended beyond refineries, with drone strikes damaging oil depots, pumping stations, and port facilities, including the Baltic Sea ports of Vysotsk and Ust-Luga. These strikes have reportedly taken out as much as a fifth of Caspian Pipeline Consortium oil loadings in July, impacting sales for Kazakhstan and western oil majors.