Renewed Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries since late October have reduced Russia’s oil refining capacity by about 30 percent, two industry sources told Reuters. The attacks disrupted operations and caused emergency situations at nine of Russia’s 35 major refineries over the past week, and the affected plants, including refineries in Ryazan, Yaroslavl and the Volga region, account for about 300,000 metric tons, or 2.2 million barrels, of daily nameplate capacity out of a national total of about 930,000 tons a day. Russian refineries were processing about 700,000 tons, or 5 million barrels, of crude a day at the end of October, and the sources estimate the actual reduction in processing could reach up to 200,000 tons a day.
The strikes stepped up after a ceasefire on energy facility attacks that President Trump announced between Kyiv and Moscow failed to take hold. On Monday a Ukrainian drone struck the Kirishi refinery, Russia’s second largest, in an overnight attack that set it on fire and killed one woman, the governor of the Leningrad region said. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote in Kommersant on Tuesday that Ukraine was ignoring Trump’s calls to stop strikes on Russian energy targets, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week Kyiv is continuing attacks on Russia’s oil sector in response to Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy targets.