Russia’s Samara Refinery Shuts Down After Drone Attack

The Kuibyshev Refinery in Samara, Russia, has been shut down following a large-scale attack by Ukrainian drones, Russian media outlet ASTRA reported.

According to the report, at least 29 drones targeted the facility, sparking seven separate fires.

As of August 28th, the refinery had completely halted operations.

The strike hit the refinery’s AVT-4 and AVT-5 primary processing units, which are critical for the production cycle, as well as a liquefied gas overpass, a gas pipeline, a gasoline pipeline, a hydrogen production unit and a diesel tank. Several fires broke out as a result.

The Kuibyshev Refinery, owned by state-run Rosneft, has an annual processing capacity of about 7 million tons of crude oil. It is one of the largest refineries in the Volga region and primarily processes oil from Western Siberia and the Samara region. Its main products are gasoline and diesel, along with fuel oil, kerosene, petroleum gases and solvents.

On August 26th, Reuters reported, citing industry sources, that Ukrainian drone strikes on 10 Russian refineries—excluding the Kuibyshev Refinery — had disabled at least 17% of the country’s refining capacity.

In the past month, Ukrainian drones have hit Rosneft’s Ryazan and Syzran refineries, Lukoil’s Volgograd refinery, as well as the Novoshakhtinsky, Saratov, Afipsky and Novokuibyshevsk refineries.

The strikes have already caused fuel shortages in parts of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, as well as in southern Russia and the Far East, with disruptions spreading to new regions.