The refinery is one of the largest in southern Russia and can process 6.6 million tons of crude oil a year. Ukrainian drones struck a major oil refinery in southern Russia, sparking a fire and forcing it to halt operations, according to a Ukrainian company involved in the attack. Ukraine’s General Staff said on Saturday that its forces had struck the Ilsky refinery overnight in Krasnodar Krai, a region on Russia’s Black Sea coast. The region’s governor, Veniamin Kondratiev, confirmed that drones had struck the district where the refinery is located and said fires had broken out at two facilities. He did not identify the sites. Independent Russian outlet ASTRA said it had examined eyewitness footage and identified one of the fires as being at the Ilsky refinery, which is located roughly 500 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also confirmed the strike. “Every day, we respond to the aggressor for its terror against our people and our country,” he wrote on X, sharing footage of the attack. Refining units hit Fire Point, the Ukrainian company that makes the FP-1 long-range drones used in the attack, said three primary refining units and a storage tank farm had been hit. “The strike hit three primary refining units and a storage tank farm, forcing the facility to halt work,” the company said. Ilsky can process about 6.6 million tons of crude oil a year, making it one of the largest refineries in southern Russia. Ukraine’s General Staff said the facility also produces fuel for the Russian military. The refinery has been targeted repeatedly. By June, it had been struck at least 16 times since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to ASTRA. Kyiv has stepped up strikes on Russian refineries and other energy facilities in an effort to disrupt fuel supplies to Moscow’s forces and reduce revenue used to fund the Kremlin’s war.
