Stand behind Ukrainian independent journalism when it’s needed most. Help us reach 20,000 members.

Skip to content
Edit post

Reported drone strike against Russian oil refinery in Samara Oblast causes fire

by Kateryna Hodunova February 19, 2025 9:18 AM 2 min read
Drones attacked the Syzran Oil Refinery in Russia's Samara Oblast overnight on Feb. 19, 2025. (Astra / Telegram)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Drones attacked the Syzran Oil Refinery in Russia's Samara Oblast overnight on Feb. 19, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev reported on his Telegram channel.

Residents posted videos on social media purportedly showing a large blaze at the refinery. Sounds of explosions were reported at around 2:45 a.m. local time.

The strike reportedly caused a fire at the refinery. There were no casualties, according to Fedorishchev.

The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify the claims.

The Syzran Oil Refinery, lying around 700 kilometers (430 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, was opened in 1942 and belongs to the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.

The facility "has a processing capacity of 8.9 million tons of oil per year," said Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation.

"Its products include fuel, aviation kerosene, and bitumen," Kovalenko said while reporting on the attack.

Ukraine considers Russian oil facilities to be valid military targets, as fossil fuel profits supply Moscow's war machine. The Ukrainian military has launched repeated attacks against Russian refineries with long-range drones.

In less than two months of 2025, at least 17 Russian oil facilities were attacked by drones, according to the independent Russian Telegram news channel Astra.

On Feb. 17, Ukrainian drones, operated by the Special Operations Forces and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), hit the Ilsky Oil Refinery in Krasnodar Krai and the Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station in the Kavkazsky district of Kuban.

The pumping station was taken out of operation due to the strike.

US-Russia talks on Ukraine peace — why Putin will be ‘very happy’
Russia on Feb. 18 ended years of political isolation sparked by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as a delegation of Kremlin officials met with their U.S. counterparts in Saudi Arabia to discuss how to end the very war it started. The talks ended with little in the way of

Independent journalism needs a community —
not a paywall.

We’re working hard to show the world the truth of Russia’s brutal war — and we’re keeping it free for everyone, because reliable information should be available to all.

Our goal: reach 20,000 members to prove independent journalism can survive without paywalls, billionaires, or compromise. Will you help us do it?

Can we reach 20,000 members?

News Feed

9:44 AM  (Updated: )

US, EU no longer coordinating enforcement of Russia sanctions, media reports.

EU sanctions chief David O'Sullivan noted that there is "no more outreach" between the two sides on sanctions evasion and that G7 cooperation has "also lost momentum" in this regard, according to an internal report from an EU ministerial meeting in Brussels on May 20, Suddeutsche Zeitung reported.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.