Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes hit Bashneft-Novoil in Bashkortostan and Slavneft-Yanos in Yaroslavl, where the regional governor reported 93 drones in the biggest attack the region has faced.
Ukraine said its military struck two Russian oil refineries on Thursday in long-range drone attacks, extending Kyiv's campaign against energy infrastructure that it says helps fund Moscow's war effort. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the targets were the Bashneft-Novoil refinery in Bashkortostan and the Slavneft-Yanos refinery in the Yaroslavl region. He said Ukraine's long-range sanctions had "once again worked to limit Russia's oil revenues, which it uses to finance the war and the killing of Ukrainians." Slavneft-Yanos, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) northeast of Moscow and hundreds of miles from the Ukraine border, is one of Russia's biggest oil refineries and has been targeted before during the conflict. The plant says it employs more than 3,500 people and processes about 15 million tons of crude oil each year, producing fuel for cars, jet fuel and a wide range of oils. Mikhail Evraev, governor of the Yaroslavl region, said air defense and electronic warfare (military systems used to disrupt attacks) destroyed 93 drones in what he called the region's largest-ever drone attack. He said falling debris hit the refinery's storage tanks and emergency services were working to put out the fire. Evraev said there were no casualties, though four people were injured. The strikes come as Ukraine has also stepped up attacks on Wildberries, described as Russia's Amazon-style retail giant, in an effort to pressure a key part of the consumer economy and create a new pressure point for President Vladimir Putin. Russian forces, meanwhile, have increased missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, likely seeking to exploit Kyiv's shortage of ballistic missile interceptors.