Russia's Volgograd oil refinery shuts down, giant fuel tanks burn near Yaroslavl after Ukraine's attacks
Photo: Volgograd oil refinery shuts down after drone attack (Russian media)
On Thursday, May 28, and overnight into May 29, Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck the Volgograd oil refinery and several other key facilities, reports the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Volgograd oil refinery came under a drone attack, causing a fire on the premises. Primary oil refining units AVT-1, AVT-3, AVT-5, and AVT-6, as well as secondary oil refining units, were hit. The refinery halted production processes.
The General Staff emphasized that the Volgograd refinery is part of Lukoil and is one of the largest oil refining enterprises in the south of Russia. Its processing capacity is about 14 million tons of oil per year.
The facility produces gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and other petroleum products, including supplies for military logistics and the needs of the army.
Ukraine’s Defense Forces also struck the Yaroslavl-3 oil pumping station, after which a fire broke out on the site. Fires in two oil reservoirs with capacities of 50,000 cubic meters and 20,000 cubic meters have been confirmed.
Yaroslavl-3 is a key hub of the Surgut-Polotsk pipeline, which transports oil from Siberia and northern Russia to the Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, as well as to Belarus. It is part of the structure of Russia’s state-owned company Transneft.
Other targets
Drones also struck a Russian Tor-M2 air defense system near Berdiansk in the Zaporizhzhia region. Enemy command and observation posts near the settlement of Lyman Pershyi in the Kharkiv region were also hit, along with Russian drone control points near Tyotkino (Kursk region, Russia), Komar in the Donetsk region, and Nesterianka in the Zaporizhzhia region.
A logistics warehouse used by Russian forces in Aidar, Luhansk region, also came under a drone strike.
Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck enemy troop concentration areas near Novopetrivka and Novohryhorivka in the Zaporizhzhia region, Rodynske in the Donetsk region, Kleven in the Kursk region of Russia, Sichneve in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and Basivka in the Sumy region.
“Ukraine’s Defense Forces will continue to systematically take measures aimed at weakening the Russian occupiers and forcing Russia to end its armed aggression against Ukraine,” the General Staff stressed.
Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure have already become a systematic campaign targeting a key sector of the economy. According to estimates, Russia’s losses from such attacks have reached about $100 billion.
Meanwhile, in Yaroslavl, an industrial zone housing fuel facilities caught fire following the overnight drone attack. Due to the incident, traffic on the highway leading out of the city toward Moscow was blocked for several hours.
