Ukrainian long-range drones attacked a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday, causing damage at the facility, a security source told Business Insider. The attack marked the latest strike on the country’s valuable energy sector.
Russia’s vast oil business is a top domestic industry fueling its war against Ukraine, and that’s put it directly in Kyiv’s sights. Earlier on Thursday, the Ukrainian military said that it carried out a separate attack on another Russian refinery.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has ramped up its deep-strike campaign against energy infrastructure to increase pressure on Russia. Its oil and natural gas exports are a critical sector of its already strained economy.
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine, SBU, said long-range drones struck infrastructure at the Gazprom Naftohim Salavat facility in Russia’s southern Bashkortostan region, near Kazakhstan, around 800 miles from the front lines. The site is home to one of the largest oil refineries and petrochemical plants in the country.
The attack caused a fire and damage at the facility, according to the source, who shared information with Business Insider on the condition of anonymity to discuss military developments. They said the SBU “systematically” blocks the flow of oil revenue into Russia’s military budget.
Each strike on a Russian refinery “reduces the aggressor’s ability to fight against Ukraine,” the source said, per a translation of their remarks. Deep strikes into Russian territory “demonstrate that there are no more safe regions for the enemy,” they added.
Footage shared on social media showed a thick plume of black smoke rising up from the Gazprom facility. The Russian defense ministry wrote on the Telegram messaging platform that air defenses downed 106 Ukrainian drones overnight. It did not acknowledge any successful attacks.
Separately, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces Command said that it hit a refinery in Russia’s southwestern Volgograd region, located around 300 miles from the front lines, significantly closer to the battlefield than the Bashkortostan facility.
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The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces said that, based on preliminary data, the Wednesday night attack forced the refinery to shut down. The site processes 15.7 million tons of oil every year, accounting for nearly 6% of Russia’s total oil processing capabilities, the command added.
Waging a deep-strike campaign
Ukraine has been using long-range drones and missiles to target key areas of Russia’s energy industry, including oil terminals and refineries, in a bid to put financial pressure on the Kremlin and curb funding for its war machine. Moscow’s oil and gas sector is estimated to fund as much as 20% country’s GDP on average.
While Ukraine began targeting energy infrastructure much earlier in the conflict, the strikes have ramped up in recent weeks, causing gas shortages and sending prices soaring in Russia.
AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Kyle Glen, an investigator with the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience who has closely tracked these developments, said that Ukraine has carried out 17 attacks against 11 Russian refineries since early July.
Fuel prices at the pump “are skyrocketing in several regions of Russia as a result of this campaign,” Glen told Business Insider. “I’ve seen evidence of fuel shortages in regions all across Russia, as well as the occupied regions of Ukraine.” Areas include far-eastern Russia, which has been untouched by strikes.
Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign has been a bright spot for Kyiv in what has otherwise largely been a grinding war of attrition. It has also used long-range drones and missiles to target important Russian military sites, including air bases, weapons production factories, and ammunition storage facilities.
Russia, however, has also been increasing the intensity of its attacks against Ukraine over the past few months. Moscow regularly targets civilian areas — including energy infrastructure — and cities with hundreds of attack and decoy drones, the latter of which are designed to exhaust Kyiv’s air defenses.
