Drones Strike Kuibyshev Refinery in Samara, AVT-5 Unit Likely Damaged

Ukrainian Defense Forces drones attacked the Kuibyshev Oil Refinery.

Exilenova+ has published footage showing a fire at the refinery.

The attack took place overnight on September 22, 2026, after a drone alert was declared in the region at 3:15 a.m.

At 3:21 a.m., reports emerged that Russian air defense systems were operating. According to them, Russian air defense remained active until 4:07 a.m.

Afterward, local residents began reporting a large fire at the Kuibyshev Oil Refinery and thick smoke rising from the site.

Samara Region Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev also confirmed the attack. In a post on his Telegram channel, he said an industrial facility came under attack.

According to Militarnyi’s analysis, the AVT-5 unit was likely hit. Several other fire spots were also identified at the facility.

Kuibyshev Refinery

The Kuibyshev Oil Refinery is one of the leading oil refineries in the Volga region. The facility is located in Samara and is part of Rosneft’s vertically integrated structure.

Together with the Novokuibyshev and Syzran oil refineries, it forms Rosneft’s Samara group of refineries. The facilities in this refining cluster process crude oil produced by the company, including in Western Siberia and the Samara region.

The Kuibyshev Refinery has a design capacity of about 7 million tonnes of crude oil per year. However, actual processing volumes have remained lower in recent years. In 2024, the refinery processed 4.7 million tonnes of crude oil, or about 94,400 barrels per day.

During that period, the refinery produced about 800,000 tonnes of gasoline, 1.4 million tonnes of diesel fuel, and 1.3 million tonnes of fuel oil.

The Kuibyshev Refinery is important to Russia’s fuel market and is among the facilities producing fuel, including for the Russian military.

One of the most significant strikes on the facility occurred on June 10, 2026. Following the drone attack, two of the refinery’s main primary oil processing units, AVT-4 and AVT-5, were damaged.

Each unit has a capacity of about 10,000 tonnes of crude oil per day, or approximately 73,000 barrels. The damage and subsequent fires led to a complete shutdown of oil refining at the facility.