Ukrainian Drone Strikes Hit Ilsky and Perm Refineries, Forcing Major Plant to Halt Fuel Output
Ukrainian long‑range drones struck refineries in Russia’s Krasnodar region and forced one of the country’s biggest plants in Perm to halt operations after a fire, disrupting facilities that support Russian military logistics.
Ukrainian long‑range drones have again punched into Russia’s energy network, hitting several refineries that help supply both domestic markets and the war effort.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 645 drones over various regions of the country overnight, but acknowledged that oil refineries in Krasnodar region came under attack. Ukrainian sources also described long‑range drone strikes on the area.
In Krasnodar Krai, regional officials reported a fire at the Ilsky oil refinery in Seversky district after a drone strike. Ukrainian reporting described the operation as a hit by long‑range drones. The Ilsky plant has six primary refining units and a throughput of roughly 6.6 million tons of crude per year. It produces diesel, gasoline, fuel oil and bitumen, and Ukrainian assessments say its output supports Russian military logistics in the Southern Military District and in occupied Ukrainian territories.
The Afipsky refinery in the same region was also reportedly attacked. Local authorities said there were fatalities and injuries connected to the refinery strikes, without immediately releasing figures. Ilsky had already been targeted on 8 August, marking it out as a recurring target rather than a single‑incident hit.
Further north, Russia’s Perm refinery, described as one of the country’s largest, halted operations after a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire and damaged pipelines, storage facilities and processing units, according to a Reuters report citing Russian sources. The shutdown adds to a series of disruptions that have periodically taken Russian fuel plants offline or forced them to scale back output.
For people living near these plants, the immediate reality is fires, smoke and concerns about safety at sites designed around industrial risks rather than cross‑border strikes. For refinery workers, each new attack raises doubts about whether emergency procedures, shelters and evacuation plans are sufficient for a conflict in which fuel facilities are being deliberately targeted.
For the Russian military, plants such as Ilsky are important suppliers of diesel, gasoline and other products for units operating in southern Ukraine and for administration in occupied areas. Even temporary outages complicate planning, force adjustments in rail and road supply routes, and can require shifting fuel supplies from other regions.
The latest hits fit into a broader Ukrainian effort to increase the cost of the war on Russian territory by going after refineries, storage sites and export infrastructure. Long‑range drones give Ukraine a way to bypass heavily defended front lines and reach economic targets deep inside Russia that had previously been considered relatively secure.
Key indicators now will be how long the Perm refinery stays offline, the extent of damage at Ilsky and Afipsky once assessments are complete, and whether Moscow alters internal fuel flows or introduces new export measures to cushion domestic consumers and front‑line units from the impact of repeated refinery disruptions.
Sources
- OSINT