Ukrainian Drone Strikes Ignite Fires at Ilsky Refinery and Halt Production at Russia’s Perm Plant
Ukrainian long-range drones set off fires at Russia’s Ilsky refinery in Krasnodar Krai and forced the shutdown of the large Perm refinery after a separate attack, hitting facilities that help fuel Russian forces in Ukraine.
Two major Russian refineries that feed the country’s war effort in Ukraine were hit in overnight strikes, with fires reported at one plant and operations halted at another after what officials on both sides described as Ukrainian drone attacks.
A Ukrainian long-range drone strike hit the Ilsky Oil Refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, according to Ukrainian reporting early on 26 September. Fires broke out at the facility, which has six primary refining units and an annual capacity of about 6.6 million tons of crude. The refinery produces diesel, gasoline, fuel oil and bitumen used in Russian military logistics in the Southern Military District and in occupied parts of Ukraine.
In a separate incident, Russia’s Perm oil refinery, described as one of the country’s largest, stopped operations after a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire and damaged pipelines, storage facilities and processing units, according to information attributed to Reuters.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 645 drones over regions of the country overnight. The statement suggested a very large incoming wave, though the claim could not be independently verified. In the Krasnodar region, local authorities reported that oil refineries in the Seversky district, including Ilsky and Afipsky, came under attack. Ilsky caught fire, and Afipsky was also reportedly hit. Officials there said there were fatalities and injuries but did not release casualty figures.
For workers and nearby residents, explosions and fires at refineries amount to industrial disasters layered on top of the wider war. Staff, emergency services and surrounding communities face the risk of further blasts, toxic smoke and secondary incidents if tanks or pipelines fail. The Ilsky plant was already targeted on 8 August, which means its workforce has been operating under repeated threat.
For Ukraine, striking refineries that produce diesel, gasoline, fuel oil and bitumen is a way to raise the material cost of Russia’s invasion by disrupting supplies that keep armored vehicles, trucks and engineering units moving, especially in the Southern Military District and occupied Ukrainian territories.
The Defense Ministry’s claim that hundreds of drones were shot down points to a Ukrainian attempt to send large numbers of long-range systems into Russian airspace, forcing Russian air defenses to engage across several regions. Even if most are intercepted, those that evade defenses can still inflict meaningful damage on high‑value industrial sites.
Signals to watch next include how long the Perm refinery remains offline, any Russian statements on production cuts or rerouting of fuel to military units, and whether further Ukrainian drone strikes reach other energy facilities beyond Krasnodar and the Urals. Changes in visible Russian air defense deployments around refineries and storage hubs would indicate how seriously Moscow now treats this threat to its industrial base.
Sources
- OSINT