2 Russian oil refineries cut production after Ukrainian drone attacks, Reuters reports
Russia's Ryazan oil refinery halved its production and the Novokuibyshevsk refinery halted it completely on Aug. 2 after Ukrainian drone attacks, Reuters reported, citing undisclosed sources.
The news comes as Kyiv escalates long-range drone attacks against the Russian oil processing industry, a key source of revenue helping to fund Moscow's war against Ukraine.
Two sources told Reuters that the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in Samara Oblast, run by the Rosneft oil company, ceased operations last week after drones damaged its main primary oil refining unit.
The facility, lying some 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the Ukraine-Russia border, has a production capacity of 8.3 million metric tons of oil per year.
Another Rosneft facility, the Ryazan oil refinery in western Russia, halted roughly half of its refining capacity after a Ukrainian drone strike last week, three industry sources told Reuters.
Two primary oil refining units have ceased operations since Aug. 2. According to the news agency, the remaining working unit covers 48% of the capacity, or 23,200 tons of product per day.
The Ryazan refinery, roughly 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the Ukrainain border, processed some 13.1 million metric tons of crude oil last year, Reuters reported.
State-owned Rosneft is Russia's leading oil processing company and has been under international sanctions since 2014.
Ukrainian drones reportedly targeted multiple industrial and military facilities across Russia overnight on Aug. 2, as local Telegram channels shared footage of fires at the Ryazan and Novokuibyshevsk refineries.
Russian officials confirmed the drone attacks but did not name the facilities targeted.
Ukraine's military confirmed the strikes, adding that Ukrainian drones also targeted the Annanefteprodukt fuel and lubricants storage base near the village of Anna in Voronezh Oblast.
Separately, Ukrainian drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) targeted the Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield in Russia's Krasnodar Krai and the Elektropribor plant in Penza, the SBU claimed.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims.
Oil and gas revenues cover roughly one-third of the Russian federal budget income. While Ukraine seeks to disrupt Russian fossil fuel income by long-range drone strikes, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil unless the Kremlin agrees to a peace deal by Aug. 8.
