Ukraine Says Strikes Hit Major Russian Refinery and Cut Some Exports by 80%
President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukrainian strikes have stopped operations at one of Russia’s biggest refineries and sharply reduced some export components, while traders report Novorossiysk oil loadings more than halving in August.
Ukraine says its long-range strikes are now imposing concrete limits on parts of Russia’s energy exports and Black Sea operations.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on 28 August that Ukrainian intelligence has evidence the Kstovo oil refinery, one of Russia’s largest with capacity to process about 17 million tons of oil per year, has stopped operating. He linked this to Ukrainian strikes and said internal Russian documents show some components of Russian exports have fallen by 80% this month.
Ukraine’s military intelligence has separately reported that Russian ships in Novorossiysk have been effectively blocked by Ukrainian drone attacks. Zelensky said Ukrainian strikes have confined Russia’s Black Sea Fleet ships to that port.
Market data point to a sharp slowdown. Traders and ship-tracking figures indicate that crude oil loadings at Novorossiysk are set to more than halve in August compared with earlier levels, according to traders and data. The data do not single out causes, but the drop coincides with intensified Ukrainian activity.
At Kstovo, operated by LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez and ranked roughly fourth in Russia by capacity, Ukrainian forces say they struck the AVT-6 unit. Several cranes are now positioned around the burned-out unit as repairs continue. Zelensky’s claim that the entire refinery has stopped is based on Ukrainian intelligence; open sources confirm damage and ongoing repair work, but not the full operational status.
Taken together, these developments support Kyiv’s argument that attacks on refineries, export components and ports are starting to bite. The scale and duration of any impact will become clearer in the coming months.
Key indicators to watch include further confirmed outages at major Russian refineries, how long Novorossiysk loadings remain depressed, and any visible redeployment of Black Sea Fleet vessels to alternative ports.
Sources
- OSINT