‘Smell’ of war comes to St Petersburg as Ukraine hammers Russian refineries

Key Points

• Ukrainian drones struck the Lukoil-owned Kstovo refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region, igniting fires at a facility that supplies 30% of gasoline to the Moscow area.
• The same attack wave damaged fuel storage tanks at the Primorsk oil terminal and the Ust-Luga port complex, disrupting key Russian export infrastructure on the Baltic Sea.
• Russia intercepted 87 drones in a single night, including 19 over the Leningrad region, but debris from downed aircraft still caused fires near the port.
• Ukrainian Presidential Office Head Kyrylo Budanov acknowledged that foreign allies have asked Kyiv to pause these attacks due to soaring global fuel prices caused by the Iran conflict, but Ukraine has continued the strikes.

Full Details

Ukraine has intensified its long-range drone campaign, striking the Lukoil Kstovo refinery in Nizhny Novgorod and Baltic export terminals at Primorsk and Ust-Luga. The Kstovo facility is a critical node, providing roughly 30% of gasoline to the Moscow region and supplying fuel for Russian forces in Ukraine. The attacks caused significant fires and damaged infrastructure, despite Russian air defenses intercepting 87 drones across the country that night. This campaign coincides with soaring global fuel prices driven by the Middle East conflict, prompting allies to request Ukraine ease the strikes, a request Kyiv has diplomatically defied. As Presidential Office Head Kyrylo Budanov stated, 'We are receiving certain signals about this,' confirming the diplomatic pressure. The strategy aims to deprive Moscow of windfall energy profits needed to fund the war, bringing the tangible costs of conflict to the Russian home front.