Drones Strike Russia’s Fourth-Largest Oil Refinery, LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez

Ukrainian drones struck a Russian oil refinery in the city of Kstovo, in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, early on July 2.

The Exilenova+ Telegram channel reported on the strike.

LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez is Russia’s fourth-largest oil refinery by refining capacity and the country’s second-largest gasoline producer.

Photos and videos from eyewitnesses show flames and thick black smoke rising above the facility’s industrial area.

Early in the morning, drones were spotted over Kstovo and neighboring settlements, after which local residents reported on social media that the plant had been struck.

In 2025 and 2026, the LUKOIL–Nizhny Novgorodnefteorgsintez refinery was repeatedly targeted by drone attacks carried out by the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

The previous strike on the refinery occurred on the morning of June 24. After the attack, Reuters reported that the plant had suspended operations.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the strike damaged the refinery’s AVT-5 crude distillation unit, which has a processing capacity of 12,000 metric tons of crude oil per day – roughly one-quarter of the refinery’s total processing capacity.

The sources added that the refinery could rely on its remaining processing units to resume operations in the near term.

An earlier attack on May 20 struck the AVT-6 crude distillation unit, triggering a fire.

Russian refinery targeted

LUKOIL–Nizhny Novgorodnefteorgsintez is one of Russia’s largest oil refineries specializing in gasoline production. It ranks fourth in the country by crude oil refining capacity.

The refinery has a maximum design capacity of about 17 million metric tons of crude oil per year. Before the attacks, it produced approximately 5 million metric tons of gasoline, more than 5 million metric tons of diesel fuel, 2 million metric tons of fuel oil, and around 500,000 metric tons of bitumen annually. Overall, the facility manufactures more than 50 different petroleum products.