Ukraine says it has struck two major oil refineries deep inside Russian territory, targeting infrastructure it believes helps fund Moscow’s war, as both countries continue exchanging heavy attacks with no sign of the conflict easing.
Ukraine has carried out long-range strikes on two major oil refineries inside Russia, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the attacks were aimed at weakening Moscow’s ability to finance its war.
According to Zelensky, Ukrainian forces hit the Bashneft-Novoil refinery in Russia’s Bashkortostan republic and the Slavneft-Yanos refinery in the Yaroslavl region. He also claimed that two military patrol boats and several vessels from Russia’s so-called shadow fleet were struck in the Black Sea.
“Russia must choose peace,” Zelensky said, adding that the strikes were intended to increase the chances of diplomacy by reducing Russia’s military resources.
Yaroslavl Governor Mikhail Evraev confirmed that the Slavneft-Yanos refinery caught fire following what he described as the region’s largest Ukrainian drone attack. He said four people were injured and emergency crews were battling the blaze after debris from intercepted drones hit fuel storage tanks.
Images and videos shared online showed thick smoke rising from the refinery, with several fires visible across the site.
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The Bashneft-Novoil refinery, located about 1,300 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, is one of the deepest targets Ukraine has claimed to hit since the war began.
While Ukraine celebrated the strikes, Russia continued its own attacks across Ukrainian cities.
Officials in Ukraine said at least 11 people were killed in Russian drone and missile strikes. Three people died in Balakliya in the Kharkiv region after residential buildings were hit, while two others were killed in an attack on a railway station in Lozova. Five more people were reported dead in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
In southern Ukraine, authorities said the city of Kherson suffered a total blackout after a critical energy facility was struck overnight.
Russia’s defence ministry said it intercepted or destroyed 605 Ukrainian drones overnight and claimed it had targeted Ukraine’s fuel, transport and energy facilities.
Despite renewed international calls for peace, both sides continue to intensify long-range attacks as the war enters another deadly phase with no breakthrough in diplomatic efforts.
