KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine continued its intense drone campaign against Russia on Sunday, igniting a major oil refinery in the country’s south and leaving at least two people dead, according to Russian officials.
Kyiv has been conducting large-scale, long-range drone strikes aimed at squeezing Russia’s fuel supplies and disrupting military logistics — a strategy Ukrainian authorities describe as an effort to pressure the Kremlin into peace negotiations.
Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev of Russia’s Krasnodar region reported that wreckage from intercepted Ukrainian drones touched off a fire at a refinery in Slavyansk-na-Kubani, a town located east of occupied Crimea. Regional officials said the falling debris claimed one life in Slavyansk and left another person injured in a nearby village.
Photos and videos spreading across Russian social media appeared to show a massive plume of black smoke rising over what users identified as the Slavyansk refinery. The Associated Press was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of those images.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly acknowledged that Ukraine carried out the Slavyansk strike. He also stated that a second refinery was hit — this one located in Russia’s Yaroslavl region, roughly 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
“Tonight, our ‘long-range sanctions’ reached two oil refineries in Russia,” Zelenskyy posted on the Telegram messaging platform. “Each (strike) means a reduction in the resources that fuel the Russian war machine, and another step toward peace.”
Over recent months, Ukraine has significantly intensified its long-range strikes on Russian military production sites and energy infrastructure. The goal, according to Western officials, is to cut into Moscow’s income from its now fifth-year invasion and force Russian civilians to feel the toll of the war. Those officials say the campaign has helped slow Russian advances on the battlefield and increased pressure on the Kremlin.
The Slavyansk facility ranks among southern Russia’s most significant refineries, handling close to 4 million tons of crude oil annually, according to the operator’s website. It also serves as a critical supplier of petroleum products — including fuel oil, naphtha, and marine fuel — destined for export through Russia’s Black Sea ports.
Russian authorities did not immediately release information about the reported strike on the Yaroslavl refinery. However, local Gov. Mikhail Evraev announced Sunday morning that some roads connecting Moscow to the regional capital of Yaroslavl had been temporarily shut down following what he described as “an enemy attack by Ukrainian drones.”
Yaroslavl’s airport also shut down briefly overnight, joining several other airports in southern and western Russia that were temporarily closed, the country’s civil aviation authority reported.
In a separate incident, Ukrainian drone strikes in Russia’s Belgorod border region killed one person and wounded another, according to acting Gov. Alexander Shuvayev.
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that its forces intercepted 213 Ukrainian drones overnight across Russian territory, occupied Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas.
On the other side of the conflict, Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 142 long-range strike drones and eight missiles at Ukraine during the night. Of those, 125 drones and seven missiles were successfully shot down, the air force said.
