A series of Ukrainian drone attacks has knocked out a significant chunk of Russia’s oil refining capacity, with operations affected at nine of the country’s 35 major refineries over the past week. The strikes have reduced Russia’s refining capacity by around 30% since late October, according to two industry sources. The attacks have affected facilities with a combined daily nameplate capacity of around 300,000 metric tonnes, or 2.2 million barrels.These include three major refineries in central Russia, as well as plants in Ryazan, Yaroslavl and the Volga region. Russia has a total primary refining capacity of approximately 930,000 tonnes per day.However, its refineries were processing around 700,000 tonnes, or five million barrels, of crude oil daily at the end of October. Industry sources estimate that the actual reduction in daily crude processing could reach 200,000 tonnes.The attacks have also added to Moscow’s difficulties in tackling domestic fuel shortages while continuing to ship diesel to international markets under an export deal with US President Donald Trump.Ukraine intensified its strikes on Russian oil facilities after a proposed ceasefire on attacks against energy infrastructure, announced by Trump between Kyiv and Moscow in late October, failed to take effect.In the latest attack, on Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone hit the Kirishi oil refinery, Russia’s second-largest, on Monday night. The strike triggered a fire at the facility and killed a woman, the governor of the Leningrad region said.Meanwhile, Russian forces continued targeting Ukraine’s energy and transport infrastructure. Prime minister Sergii Koretskyi said on Wednesday that six large electricity substations across four central Ukrainian regions had been struck.In a post on Telegram, he also reported attacks on railway infrastructure in eastern and central Ukraine.The exchange of attacks has also drawn criticism from both sides over the proposed halt to strikes on energy facilities.Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, in an article published in the daily newspaper Kommersant on Tuesday, said Ukraine was ignoring Trump’s calls to stop attacks on Russian energy targets.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, said last week that Kyiv would continue striking targets linked to Russia’s oil sector in retaliation for Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.He said Ukrainian power plants, energy networks, heating systems and water supply systems were under constant attack, adding that Moscow had “refused the de-escalation steps that our partners talked about”.
