Ukrainian drones hit Russian refineries and supply lines in wide raid

Ukrainian drones struck three Russian oil refineries, tankers in the Sea of Azov and pipeline pumping stations in a single night raid that reached from the borderlands to the Volga and into western Siberia’s broader fuel network. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed 415 drones overnight, a scale that underscored how far Ukraine is pushing its long-range campaign against energy and logistics assets.

Ukraine said the strikes hit the TANECO and TAIF-NK refineries in Tatarstan’s Nizhnekamsk, the Saratov oil refinery and the Borisoglebsk military airbase in Voronezh region. Kyiv also claimed a strike on a petroleum products pumping station in Bashkortostan, about 1,450 km from Ukrainian-held territory. TANECO processed 17.0 million tons of crude in 2024, while TAIF-NK processed 6.6 million metric tons, making both important nodes in Russia’s refining system.

The Saratov strike had immediate human consequences. Regional governor Roman Busargin said one person was killed and several others were wounded. The combination of refinery hits, a military airbase and a pumping station pointed to a coordinated attack on the infrastructure that keeps fuel moving to Russian forces, occupied territory and civilian markets.

The pressure on Russia’s fuel system widened beyond the industrial heartland. Moscow introduced a temporary ban on diesel exports on July 8 and said it would begin importing fuel in July, as Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the situation at filling stations was causing public concern. Drivers in many regions have faced long queues and higher prices, a sign that repeated strikes on oil infrastructure are spilling into the domestic market.

The maritime front was hit too. Two empty tankers were damaged in Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, and two people suffered minor injuries. The vessels were en route to Rostov-on-Don, according to the governor of Rostov region. Ukraine’s drone commander, Robert Brovdi, said Ukrainian drones hit eight Russian shadow-fleet tankers in the Sea of Azov on July 7 and framed the waterway as part of the battle for fuel supplies to Crimea.

The strikes also reached gas infrastructure. Gazprom said the Krasnodarskaya compressor station on the Blue Stream gas pipeline was attacked, though gas exports to Turkey were not affected. That came after an earlier hit on the Omsk refinery in Siberia, about 2,700 km from Ukrainian-held territory, one of the deepest attacks of the war and another sign that Ukraine is targeting the arteries of Russia’s wartime economy, not just facilities near the front.