Ukrainian Drones Strike One of Russia’s Largest Oil Refineries, Kirishinefteorgsintez

Ukrainian drones struck one of Russia’s largest oil refineries, Kirishinefteorgsintez, during the night of March 26. The refinery is located in the city of Kirishi in Russia’s Leningrad region.

Astra reported on this, citing local residents.

Alexander Drozdenko, Leningrad region’s governor, also confirmed the overnight drone attack, stating that damage occurred in an industrial area of the Kirishi district.

Preliminary reports indicate that oil storage tanks caught fire, with witnesses seeing smoke rising from the site. The fire is also confirmed by NASA’s FIRMS service, which detected high-temperature hotspots on the facility’s grounds.

Kirishi Oil Refinery

Kirishinefteorgsintez is one of the largest oil refining enterprises in Russia.

The plant specializes in oil refining and the production of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, aviation fuel, and other components.

The enterprise is part of the company Surgutneftegaz. Its annual processing capacity is 20.1 million tons of oil.

The distance from the plant to the state border of Ukraine is about 790 km. This is already the fourth known attack on this Russian oil refinery.

The previous drone strike on the facility took place on the night of October 4, 2025. The Special Operations Forces launched it in coordination with the Russian insurgent movement “Black Spark.”

The strike resulted in damage to the critically important ELOU-AVT-6 unit. It is designed for desalting and the primary distillation of crude oil. The unit processes crude oil supplied to the refinery from pumping stations, and the number at the end indicates its processing capacity – 6 million tons per year.

During primary distillation, crude oil is separated into fractions such as kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel, and fuel oil, which are then used to produce the corresponding types of fuel. Disabling this unit effectively halts the entire downstream technological process.

Drones also struck the LAB-LABS unit, the only one of its kind in Russia, which produces liquid paraffins and alkylbenzenes.