Ukraine drone strikes set fire to major Russian oil refinery

Ukrainian drones set fire to a major oil refinery in southern Russia and killed at least two people, Russian authorities said, as Kyiv intensified a long-range campaign meant to choke off fuel supplies, disrupt military deliveries and pressure the Kremlin far from the front lines.

The strike came amid a widening assault on Russia’s energy system that has repeatedly hit refineries, pipelines and fuel depots. Ukraine’s General Staff has said its forces struck the Afipsky Oil Refinery in Krasnodar Krai on June 11, a facility described in Russian and Ukrainian reporting as one of the largest in southern Russia and reported to process 6.25 million tonnes a year.

A separate drone attack on the Moscow oil refinery on June 16 started a fire and halted operations, according to industry sources familiar with the plant’s condition. Those same sources later said the refinery, the largest fuel supplier to the Moscow region, may remain offline until 2027 because of the damage and the scale of repairs required.

Russian regional officials, including Moscow city authorities and Krasnodar Krai regional authorities, have repeatedly said debris from downed drones and air defenses caused some of the fires and damage. Ukrainian officials have presented the refinery strikes differently, as deliberate blows against Russia’s war economy and the logistics that keep its forces supplied.

The pattern has put some of Russia’s most important industrial sites under regular pressure, including in areas far from the battlefield. In Moscow, the strike on the refinery drew attention because of its role in supplying fuel to the capital and surrounding region. In the south, the Afipsky plant and other energy sites have become recurring targets as Ukraine seeks to widen the cost of the war for Moscow.

The latest fire adds to the strategic uncertainty around the campaign. Ukrainian officials say the strikes are intended to weaken Russia’s capacity to fight and to force the Kremlin toward negotiations. The damage to the Moscow refinery, if it keeps the plant offline into 2027, would mark one of the most severe disruptions yet to Russia’s refining network. Whether the attacks are measurably reducing war capacity or mainly signaling that no industrial hub is beyond reach is now central to the battle over Russia’s energy infrastructure.