Ukrainians set fire to several major Russian refineries in a matter of days

Ukrainian armed forces are continuing an intense series of attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. On the night of September 14, drones attacked an oil refinery in Kirishinefteorgsintez, Leningrad Oblast, regional governor Alexander Drozdenko announced. The refinery, known as Kirishinefteorgsintez (KINEF), is one of the two largest in Russia and processes approximately 17.7 million tons of oil annually, which represents 6.4 percent of the country's total production.

According to Drozdenko, Russian air defenses intercepted three drones, with the debris of one of them falling directly onto the refinery site and causing a fire. “The fire was extinguished and no casualties were reported,” the governor said. However, local residents shared footage of a powerful explosion and raging flames on social media, which was published by the opposition channel Astra. Independent media have not yet been able to verify this information.

The series of attacks is escalating.

The Kirishi refinery was attacked by Ukrainians in March 2025. The Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR claimed responsibility for the attack on one of the tanks. The latest attack comes just days after a massive operation in the Leningrad region, when drones from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) hit the port of Primorsk, Russia's largest oil terminal on the Baltic Sea.

Following the attack in Primorsk on September 12, fires broke out on one of the shipping vessels and at a pumping station, forcing Moscow to temporarily suspend oil exports."The goal was to stop the flow of revenue from Russian exports that finance the war," an SBU source told the Kyiv Independent.

Primorsk, located about 100 kilometers from St. Petersburg and more than 900 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, is a key hub for Russia's"shadow fleet." About 60 million tons of oil worth about $15 billion passes through it annually. Drones have also hit three gas stations connected to a pipeline to another strategic port, Ust-Luga, in recent weeks.

A refinery in Ufa, the capital of Bashkiria, was also targeted on Saturday, September 13. The complex, known as Bashneft, was described by the Kremlin in 2016 as"one of the largest in the country." It produces more than 150 types of oil products and is an important part of Russia's fuel network.

Massive oil refinery fire in Russia's Proletarsk

Attacks on Russia's oil industry have intensified significantly in recent months. Kiev considers refineries and ports to be legitimate military targets, as they directly contribute to the financing and supply of the Russian military. According to Ukrainian officials, these operations have already led to the disruption of the operation of several plants and have deepened the fuel crisis in Russia. This is manifested in gasoline shortages and a sharp increase in prices across the country. Locals are already talking about a"full-fledged fuel crisis".

As reported by Militarnyi.com, the Russian government is responding by strengthening security measures at ports and oil terminals. After a series of explosions on vessels in the Baltic Sea that were linked to the so-called shadow fleet, Moscow has allocated more than 3 billion rubles to search for and dispose of explosive devices on ships arriving at Russian ports.