Ukraine's precision drone campaign against Russian energy infrastructure has significantly crippled the country's petroleum sector, reducing its primary oil refining capacity by approximately 30%, according to industry reports citing insider sources.
The operations have successfully damaged roughly 9 out of Russia's 35 largest oil refineries. These include vital central facilities in the Volga basin, Yaroslavl, and Ryazan, as well as strikes on major plants like Kirishi. While Russia's total primary capacity is near 930,000 tonnes per day, the reports state that ongoing disruptions and secondary fires have slashed active processing volumes by up to 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes daily.
The persistent campaign has forced major energy companies such as Rosneft to restrict domestic fuel sales. This has compounded domestic supply pressures as Kyiv continues its strategy of targeting economic assets in response to Russian strikes on Ukraine's power grid.
On Monday, a Ukrainian drone struck the Kirishi oil refinery, which is Russia's second-largest facility, in an overnight attack. The governor of the Leningrad region stated that the attack set the refinery on fire and killed one woman.
Ukraine has increased strikes on Russian refineries since the end of October, following the failure of a ceasefire on attacks on energy facilities announced by US President Donald Trump. These attacks add to Moscow's difficulties in addressing domestic fuel shortages while it ships diesel to international markets under an export deal with Trump.
Sources indicate that at the end of October, Russian refineries were processing about 700,000 tons, or 5 million barrels, of crude per day. The refinery shutdown breakdown provides context on how continuous drone strikes have forced the suspension of operations across multiple major Russian oil facilities.
