Ukraine’s Drones Target Russian Refineries, Pumping Stations
(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine claimed drone strikes that damaged energy infrastructure deep within Russian territory on Saturday, the latest of a series of attacks aimed at denting export revenues and stemming the flow of oil.
Kyiv’s forces targeted several pumping stations along the trunk oil pipeline carrying crude oil toward the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, according to a source with Ukraine’s Security Service. The facilities are located some 1,700 kilometres (around 1,060 miles) away from Novorossiysk.
Earlier, drones triggered explosions at two oil refineries in the Volga region, according to Ukraine’s General Staff. Blasts were reported at Rosneft’s Saratov and Novokuibyshevsk refineries, the military said on its Facebook page. The facilities are, respectively, about 1,100 km and 1,800 km from Kyiv.
An additional strike occurred on a “production station where high- and low-density oil is mixed from different fields to form the export grade of oil Urals” in the Samara region, according to the report.
Russia hasn’t confirmed the latest incidents. Rosneft’s press service didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment outside of regular business hours.
Ukrainian military forces since last month have intensified drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, as Kyiv aims to curb fuel supplies to the front lines and limit Russia’s export revenue.
While the refinery attacks weren’t confirmed, the Saratov region’s governor Roman Busargin reported in his Telegram channel that a woman was hospitalized and windows broken at two apartment buildings overnight.
In the Samara region, home to Novokuibyshevsk refinery, there was an attack on “oil-and-gas objects” on Saturday morning that left four people dead, according to a local media report that quoted Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev.
The Novokuibyshevsk plant has a design processing capacity of over 177,000 barrels of crude a day. The Saratov refinery, can produce about 140,000 barrels a day.
Russia’s defense ministry reported intercepting 149 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Moscow’s armed forces launched 40 cruise and ballistic missiles and about 580 drones into Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a post on X.
(Updates with details on strikes at pumping stations in paragraphs 1-3)
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