Ukrainian drone hits Gazprom's 200,000 b/d Salavat refinery

Ukraine struck another big Russian oil refinery yesterday, escalating Kyiv's ongoing campaign against Russian energy production and export facilities.

IMAGE: Flags of Russia and Ukraine. Getty Images

Ukraine hit Russian oil company Gazprom Neftekhim’s oil refining complex in the city of Salavat, in a move that will compel Moscow to cut fuel exports further.

“A fire was recorded on the territory of the enterprise,” Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said on social media platform Telegram.

Falling debris from a drone started the fire in the industrial area, the region’s governor Radiy Khabirov said on Telegram.

The facility, situated in Russia's Bashkortostan region and about 1,300 km away from Ukraine’s territorial boundary, has a “capacity to process hydrocarbon raw materials up to 10 million tons per year”, Ukraine’s army said.

Earlier this week, Ukraine’s military hit the Orsknefteorgsintez oil refinery in Orsk, in the Orenburg region. Orsknefteorgsintez is one of Russia’s largest oil refineries in the Orenburg region, with processing capacity of about 6 million mt/year.

These attacks mark a return of Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, following Kyiv’s recent shift toward targeting Russia-linked tankers in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

Kyiv has launched near-constant strikes against Russian processing plants and export terminals, seeking to choke off Moscow's oil revenues while simultaneously straining domestic fuel availability.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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