Ukraine’s Retaliatory Drone Strikes Hit Russian Oil Refinery Supplying Moscow’s Forces

Ukrainian forces struck the Ilsky oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight on September 26 as part of retaliatory strikes in response to Russian aggression, triggering a fire at the facility.

Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed the strike on September 26, saying the refinery is involved in receiving, storing, and processing crude oil and producing petroleum products used to support the Russian Armed Forces.

The Ilsky refinery has an annual processing capacity of approximately 6.6 million metric tons of crude oil. The General Staff said strikes against facilities of this type are intended to reduce Russia’s military and economic capacity.

Reports of the attack began emerging around midnight, when residents in the area reported explosions and Russian air defense activity. Footage subsequently circulated by the Exilenova+ monitoring channel showed a fire at the refinery. ASTRA later geolocated eyewitness footage to the Ilsky facility in the Seversky district of Krasnodar region.

Krasnodar region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev confirmed that drones had targeted the Seversky district and said fires had broken out on the territory of two enterprises, though he did not identify the facilities.

The Ilsky refinery, located roughly 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Krasnodar, has been targeted by Ukrainian drones multiple times. The previous reported strike occurred on August 8.

The Ilsky strike came one day after Russia’s Perm oil refinery halted operations following a Ukrainian drone attack. According to Reuters, it became the fourth Russian refinery to suspend operations in less than a week amid Ukraine’s continued strikes on Russia’s oil-processing infrastructure.

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