Lukoil-owned Lukoil's Volgograd oil refinery in southern Russia suspended oil processing on Wednesday after a major fire broke out following a Ukrainian drone strike, two industry sources said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure calmed down somewhat in January amid peace negotiations, but have increased in intensity in recent days.
Sources cited by Reuters said a key piece of equipment, the CDU-1 crude oil distillation unit, which accounts for 40 percent of the plant's capacity, was damaged.
The capacity of CDU-1 is approximately 18,600 metric tons per day, or approximately 140,000 barrels per day.
Lukoil did not respond to a request for comment on the incident.
In 2024, the Volgograd refinery processed 13.5 million metric tons of oil, or about 5% of the total volume of Russian refineries.
The refinery produced 6 million tons of diesel, 1.9 million tons of gasoline and 700,000 tons of fuel oil.
Ukrainian attacks during the night
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, Ukrainian forces carried out drone and missile attacks on military and energy targets in several Russian regions, including a refinery located in the north of the country, almost 2,000 kilometers from the border between the two countries, local authorities announced.
Fire at a military base in Russia after a bombing. Officials say they repelled a missile attack
These Ukrainian attacks came after a massive attack by Russian forces, also carried out with drones and missiles, against several Ukrainian regions, the EFE and DPA agencies previously wrote.
Ukrainian media reported on an attack by Liutai drones on a refinery in the Republic of Komi in northern Russia, which was also attacked by Kiev in August 2023.
Local emergency services confirmed at least one drone strike but did not provide details on the damage. Images on social media suggest that the refinery was affected, but the information could not be verified, notes Agerpres.
The authorities also announced that the airport in the city of Uhta in this republic was temporarily closed for security reasons.
Also in northern Russia, authorities said two people were injured in a separate drone attack in the Tambov region. Governor Evgeni Pervashov said that the debris of a drone hit a technical college and a shop in the city of Myciurinsk.
And the governor of the Volgograd region, Andrei Bocearov, announced that the anti-aircraft defense system repelled a rocket attack during the night, which led to evacuations in the perimeter of the Kotluban town.
Images and videos circulating on social media appear to show multiple explosions in the region. Initially, no casualties or damage to civilian infrastructure were reported.
Ukrainian sources claimed that missile depots in the Volgograd area were also hit.
Zelenski: More than 800,000 Russian targets, “hit by drones” in the last year
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the end of January, at the presentation of the “E-Points” initiative to evaluate the effectiveness of drone units, that “more than 80% of enemy targets are destroyed by drones.”
He noted that “the absolute majority are domestically produced drones, and it is very encouraging that these are Ukrainian-made drones.”
Zelenskiy added that, “in the last year alone, 819,737 targets were hit by drones.” “And we clearly record every shot. We also award points for every shot,” and “our electronic bonus-based scoring system works to amplify the results of our defense.”
In this speech, delivered on January 26 and published on the website of the President of Ukraine, the leader from Kiev highlighted that in December, Ukrainian units neutralized “35,000 occupiers”, who were killed or seriously injured. He compared this result to the losses of the Soviet army in ten years of war in Afghanistan, which were half of what the Russians lost in a single month of this war.
Zelensky emphasized that “the task of Ukrainian units is to ensure a level of destruction of the occupiers at which Russian losses exceed the number of reinforcements they can send to their forces every month.” “When we talk about 50,000 Russian losses per month, this is the optimal level,” he added, explaining that “the task of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (…) is to guarantee exactly this level of Russian losses,” and this can be achieved “first of all – by drones, of course, of all types.”
Zelensky also spoke of the need to ensure a sufficiently high level of training and coordination of Ukrainian fighters and units, emphasizing the importance of technologies in the continuation of this war.
