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War

Major Russian oil refinery in flames after drone strike, Ukrainian General Staff confirms

• 2 min read
Major Russian oil refinery in flames after drone strike, Ukrainian General Staff confirms
Screenshot from footage by locals in Kstovo, Russia, depicting a large fire at the NORSI oil refinery in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast on Aug. 27. (Exilenova-Plus / Telegram) 

Editor's note: The story was updated with a statement from the Ukrainian General Staff

Ukraine struck Russia's NORSI oil refinery in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, overnight on Aug. 26, Ukraine's General Staff confirmed.

The Lukoil refinery is one of the most important oil processing and gasoline production facilities in Russia.

The General Staff said the refinery was hit, causing a fire on the premises. The extent of the damage is currently being assessed, it added.

Before reports of the fire emerged, residents in the Kstovo area reported an air raid alert and drones overhead. Soon after, monitoring channels began posting photos and videos from locals of flames engulfing the refinery.

Russian authorities have not yet commented on the reported strike at the refinery.

President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X on Aug. 26 that over the past day, Ukraine struck 16 targets in Russia.

He said that Ukraine conducted long-range strikes against Russia's oil facilities, a military enterprise, Russian logistics, airfields, a missile unit, and infrastructure that is used by Russia to launch attacks against Ukraine.

Kstovo lies approximately 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

"The war must return to where it came from. Ukraine responds to Russian strikes, and we do so in a way that ensures the cost of the war for the aggressor inevitably rises," Zelensky wrote.

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Footage from local residents shows a large fire at the NORSI oil refinery in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, after a reported drone strike in the area. (Exilenova-Plus / Telegram)

NORSI, or the Lukoil-Nizhegorodorgsintez refinery, is Russia's fourth-largest oil refinery and second-largest gasoline producer, processing around 15-17 million metric tons of crude annually. It also produces bitumen, as well as diesel and aviation fuel used to support Russian forces.

Ukraine has struck the refinery repeatedly in 2026, including attacks on April 5, May 20, June 24, and July 2. Some of those strikes forced production units offline.

Ukraine continues to target Russian oil and gas production and processing sites in an effort to disrupt operations that fund and fuel the ongoing war.

T
Tamara Nowakowsky

News Editor, North America

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 (Updated:  )

The grounding was the first nationwide flight stoppage since January 2023, when an FAA computer system malfunctioned. Before that, the last nationwide grounding followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

 (Updated:  )

Local authorities later on Nov. 13 reported that a rescue worker from the Cobra emergency service was killed when a concrete slab fell on him while he was clearing debris from a building damaged in the Russian attack.

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