Ukrainian Drones Strike AVT-6 Unit at Russia’s Bashneft-UNPZ Oil Refinery

The morning attack by Ukrainian drones struck the key AVT-6 unit at Russia’s Bashneft-UNPZ oil refinery.

Militarnyi’s GEOINT analysis indicates this based on footage of the fire published by the monitoring outlet Exilenova+.

The refinery is located in Ufa’s industrial area in Russia’s Bashkortostan region, more than 1,400 kilometers from the front line.

The region’s governor, Radiy Khabirov, confirmed that the unit was damaged by a fire following the Ukrainian drone strike. According to him, the unit was undergoing maintenance.

A drone threat alert was declared in Bashkortostan shortly after 4:30 a.m. and lasted until 7:40 a.m. Witnesses reported explosions and the operation of Russian air defense systems on social media.

The ELOU-AVT-6 unit is a key crude-oil primary refining unit at the Bashneft-UNPZ oil refinery. It is used for desalting and primary fractionation of crude oil. Its capacity exceeds 6 million tons of crude oil per year.

During primary fractionation, crude oil is separated into fractions, including kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel and fuel oil, which are subsequently processed at secondary refining units to produce various types of fuel.

A fire in the same unit’s area was reported on August 2, also following a drone attack by Ukraine’s Defense Forces.

Bashneft-UNPZ is the oldest of Ufa’s three oil refineries. The other two are Bashneft-Novoil and Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim. All three are part of the Russian oil company Rosneft.

The refinery produces Euro-4 and Euro-5 automotive fuels, jet fuel, bitumen and petrochemical feedstocks.

Together, the three refineries form one of Russia’s largest oil-refining hubs, with a combined crude oil processing capacity of 23.5 million tons per year.

It supplies fuel and lubricants to both the domestic market and the Russian military.