Ukrainian Drone Attacks Cut Russia’s Refining Capacity by 30%

Ukrainian attacks disrupted operations and caused emergency situations at nine of Russia’s 35 major refineries over the past week, according to industry sources and officials cited by Reuters.

The sources put the combined daily nameplate capacity of the plants hit since late October, including three major facilities in central Russia, at around 300,000 metric tons, or 2.2 million barrels. Russia’s total primary refining capacity is about 930,000 tons per day, they said.

That nameplate figure is the basis for the roughly 30% estimate. At the end of October, Russian refineries were processing about 700,000 tons, or 5 million barrels, of crude a day. The sources estimate the actual drop in crude processing could be as much as 200,000 tons per day.

Refineries Hit Across Central Russia and the Volga

The affected plants include refineries in Ryazan, Yaroslavl and the Volga region, the sources said.

Clash Report documented a fire at the Yaroslavl plant on Nov. 3 and a strike on Nov. 5 on the Ryazan refinery, one of the country’s largest, that also hit a Wildberries logistics hub, damaged power lines and injured one person.

The campaign resumed after a pause of about two weeks, when Ukrainian drones struck the Novokuybyshevsk refinery in Samara Oblast on Oct. 30, triggering explosions and a large fire at a Volga-region plant with an annual capacity of 8.8 million tons.

On Nov. 7, drones also targeted the Saratov oil refinery, one of Russia’s oldest, with explosions, fires and air-defense activity reported in the area.

Fire at Kirishi, Russia’s Second-Largest Refinery

On Monday, a Ukrainian drone struck the Kirishi oil refinery, Russia’s second-largest, in an overnight attack that set the plant on fire, the governor of the Leningrad region said. He said one woman had been killed in the attack.

The facility has a processing capacity of more than 20 million tons of oil a year. Euronews, citing regional authorities, reported that three main processing units at the KINEF plant were damaged and that debris from a downed drone killed a resident in Vsevolozhsk. The governor said air defenses shot down 113 drones targeting the region.

Fuel Shortages and an Export Ban

The strikes have added to Moscow’s difficulties in addressing domestic fuel shortages even as Russia ships diesel to international markets under an export deal with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Rosneft has reinstated fuel sales limits at filling stations in multiple regions after the latest wave of attacks. Russian media reported caps of typically 30 liters of gasoline per transaction in cities and 50 liters on highways, including in Karelia, Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai and the Novosibirsk, Arkhangelsk and Penza regions.

The Russian government has extended a temporary ban on exports of gasoline, diesel, marine fuel and gas oil until Jan. 31, 2027. Direct producers remain able to export diesel, marine fuel and gas oil, and shipments are also allowed under intergovernmental agreements.

An earlier Ukrainian campaign this year already pushed Russia into a fuel crisis, with rationing across many regions.

Kyiv Says the Energy Ceasefire Failed

Ukraine stepped up strikes on Russian refineries after the end of October, when a ceasefire on attacks on energy facilities that Trump announced between Kyiv and Moscow failed to take hold. Zelensky had earlier ended a pause on such attacks after Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure continued.

In an article published on Tuesday in Kommersant, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine was ignoring Trump’s calls to stop strikes on Russian energy targets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Kyiv was continuing to launch attacks on targets associated with Russia’s oil sector in response to Russian strikes on energy targets. He said Ukrainian power plants, energy networks, heating systems and water supply systems were subject to constant attacks, and that Moscow had “refused the de-escalation steps that our partners talked about.”