Ukraine Attacked Russian Oil Refineries 21 Times in August— Monthly Record

In August, Ukraine launched a record number of strikes against Russian oil refineries—at least 21 attacks in a single month.

This was reported by Bloomberg.

The strikes led to a decline in oil refining volumes and triggered a new wave of gasoline shortages.

According to the publication, such a high number of strikes on Russia’s fuel infrastructure within a single month has never been recorded before.

In August, four of Russia’s ten largest oil refineries were targeted.

These facilities supply fuel to Russia’s most densely populated and industrially developed regions.

According to estimates by EA Analytics, a division of Energy Aspects, Russian refineries processed slightly more than 3.8 million barrels of crude oil per day in August.

A year earlier, during the summer, this figure stood at 5.3–5.5 million barrels per day.

Due to the decline in refining volumes, gasoline production and supply to Russia’s domestic market fell by nearly 20% in the first three weeks of August compared with the same period last year.

A record number of Ukrainian strikes also forced Russian authorities to tighten restrictions on fuel exports.

Moscow has banned most gasoline exports until the end of January 2027 and is considering extending restrictions on diesel fuel exports.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that, as a result of an attack by Ukrainian drones, the Ryazan oil refinery suspended operations for two weeks. In total, Ukrainian strikes using long-range drones have disabled more than 30% of the actual and 45% of the nominal capacity of Russian oil refineries.

This intensity of attacks has caused a fuel shortage and forced Russia to seek quick ways to overcome it, including increasing imports from other countries such as India and South Korea, as well as making an unsuccessful attempt to import from Japan.

However, even these additional imports do not compensate for the shortage or meet Russia’s domestic needs.