Ukraine has intensified its drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, hitting major oil refineries and gas processing plants across the country. Kyiv says the attacks aim to strip Russia of resources used to fund its military. The strikes have deepened fuel shortages, with reports of rising prices and long queues at petrol stations in many regions.
Among the most recent attacks, Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at the Tyumen refinery in western Siberia on July 25, more than 2,000 kilometres from Ukraine. The plant processes around 6 million tonnes of crude annually. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed that Ukrainian forces struck the Yaroslavl refinery, roughly 250 kilometres northeast of Moscow, on July 27. That facility has a processing capacity of about 300,000 barrels per day.
Other significant targets include the Salavat petrochemical complex in Bashkortostan, which halted operations on July 14 after a drone attack, and the Afipsky refinery in the Krasnodar region, which caught fire the same day. The Syzran refinery on the Volga river suspended operations on July 12 after damage to a primary processing unit. In June, Ukrainian drones hit the Moscow refinery, forcing it to halt operations, and struck the Taneco refinery in Tatarstan, one of Russia's most technologically advanced plants.
The campaign has affected Russia's refining capacity, with many facilities suspending production for repairs. The Omsk refinery, with a design capacity of about 22 million tonnes per year, was struck on July 6. The NORSI refinery, Russia's second-largest gasoline producer, was hit for a second time on July 2, damaging a key unit. Ukraine also targeted the Orenburg gas processing plant on June 24. The cumulative impact is intended to reduce Russia's ability to finance its war effort, as fuel exports are a key revenue source.
