Ukraine strikes Russian refineries as it faces missile barrage

Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg News on Aug 31, 2025

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Ukraine struck two oil refineries in Russia with drones overnight as it continued to target energy infrastructure while attempting to repel another missile and drone barrage from Kremlin forces.

A refinery in the Krasnodar region and the Syzran refinery in the Samara region were attacked as part of efforts to curb the supply of fuel to Russia’s army, Ukraine’s General Staff said in a post on Facebook.

Fires broke out at both locations, the General Staff said. Regional authorities in Krasnodar confirmed a blaze at the refinery started by falling drone debris, but said there were no casualties, according to the Ria Novosti news service. The fire has been extinguished.

The governor of Russia’s Samara region, Vyacheslav Fedorischev, said a drone attack on an unspecified “enterprise” in Syzran had been repelled, the Interfax news service reported. Syzran is more than 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) northeast of Kyiv.

Ukraine has recently intensified attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, including targeting multiple refineries. The strikes have exacerbated a crisis in the domestic fuel market, leading to price spikes amid high seasonal demand. Attacks on Russian pipelines have also contributed to slowing oil exports.

A series of strikes on Russian refineries earlier this month temporarily shuttered about 13% of the country’s active capacity.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 86 Ukrainian drones.

Separately, Russia launched another large air barrage against several Ukrainian areas overnight, including nearly 540 drones, eight ballistic missiles and 37 missiles of other types, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X.

One person was killed and 22 wounded in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, local officials said. Other regions targeted ranged from Sumy and Kharkiv in the northeast, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi in the southwest, and the capital.

That followed Thursday’s wave of drone and missile strikes on Kyiv, which killed 25 people, including four children, and injured dozens of others.

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