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Fire Breaks Out at Major Russian Oil Refinery in Ufa Following Ukrainian Drone Raid
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A Ukrainian drone strike ignited a fire at Rosneft’s Bashneft-UNPZ oil refinery in the Russian city of Ufa, The Moscow Times reported on August 5.
The attack on Ufa aligns with Ukraine’s wider effort to systematically degrade Russian energy infrastructure, coinciding with a 40-day campaign recently concluded by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) that carried out over 100 strategic strikes across Russian territory, including hits on 14 oil refineries.
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This latest strike marks the third consecutive day of attacks targeting the key regional petrochemical hub.
Regional head Radiy Khabirov stated that Russian air defense forces intercepted 25 drones during a widespread attack on industrial facilities across Bashkortostan. However, he stated that the “debris” from at least one crashed drone struck the industrial zone and triggered the blaze.
Ukrainian An-196 “Lyutyi” long-range drones were likely utilized in the strike against the Bashneft-UNPZ facility, which forms part of the broader Ufa refining complex alongside the Bashneft-Ufaneftkhim and Bashneft-Novoil plants, Exilenova+ monitoring channel reported.
The strike signifies an intensifying campaign against the Ufa petrochemical cluster, a massive industrial asset belonging to Rosneft subsidiary Bashneft with a combined processing capacity of 23.5 million metric tons per year. The facility was targeted just one day after a separate strike hit the neighboring Ufaneftkhim plant, following earlier drone raids conducted on August 1, July 8, and June 25, The Moscow Times detailed.
The systematic targeting of the Ufa complex comes at a vulnerable moment for Russia’s energy sector, as the facility was one of the few major domestic refineries still operating at 100% capacity through late July. According to S&P Global estimates cited by The Moscow Times, 11 Russian refineries had already been forced to reduce fuel production by 30% to 70% due to accumulated drone damage, while seven other facilities were shut down completely.
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The nationwide campaign against energy infrastructure reduced total Russian oil refining capacity to 3.6 million barrels per day in July, marking the country’s lowest monthly refining output since May 2002.
Russian energy companies have lost approximately one-third of their fuel production capacity since the beginning of the year as long-range strikes continue to degrade critical industrial nodes, The Moscow Times reported.
The cumulative damage to Russia’s refining capacity has triggered widespread domestic fuel shortages at civilian gas stations, with deficits re-emerging even in areas where supply conditions had temporarily stabilized—forcing local authorities in the Volgograd region to reintroduce strict 40-liter purchase limits per vehicle following recent drone strikes on regional energy infrastructure.
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