Moscow Oil Refinery After Ukrainian Drone Attacks: What Satellite Images Show

New satellite imagery published by Exilenova+ appears to show significant damage at the Moscow Oil Refinery following recent Ukrainian drone strikes.

The images reveal a storage tank with its roof blown off, as well as visible traces of firefighting activity across multiple key processing areas of the facility.

According to information obtained by Exilenova+, the Moscow Oil Refinery has been shut down following the attacks. The facility is one of Russia’s largest refineries and a key supplier of fuel to the Moscow region.

Satellite imagery shows a heavily damaged storage tank within the refinery complex, with the tank roof missing after an apparent explosion. Additional imagery indicates that firefighting vehicles operated across much of the site, leaving visible tracks around critical installations and fuel storage areas.

The refinery was targeted during two separate Ukrainian drone attacks this week, which reportedly triggered multiple fires across the facility.

According to Reuters on June 18, citing industry sources, the latest strike damaged the Euro+ crude oil processing complex, commissioned in 2020 as part of the refinery’s modernization program. The unit includes a crude distillation section with a nominal capacity of around 140,000 barrels per day—approximately 47% of the refinery’s total processing capacity.

Sources told Reuters that the damaged complex also includes a catalytic reforming unit and a diesel hydrotreater. In addition, several secondary processing units, interconnecting pipelines, auxiliary equipment, and fuel storage tanks were reportedly damaged and caught fire.

Reuters previously reported that another major crude distillation unit, CDU-6, responsible for roughly 53% of the refinery’s processing capacity, was damaged during an earlier Ukrainian drone strike on June 16.

In 2024, the Moscow refinery processed approximately 11.6 million tonnes of crude oil, or around 230,000 barrels per day, producing 2.9 million tonnes of gasoline, 3.2 million tonnes of diesel fuel, and 1.3 million tonnes of bitumen.

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