Ukraine struck two oil refineries deep inside Russia and repelled a massive overnight drone bombardment on Saturday.
Drones hit the Novokuybyshevsk refinery in Russia’s Samara Oblast in the early hours of Saturday morning, sparking a large fire visible in footage shared on social media.
Local residents reported blasts heard across the eastern and northern parts of the city.
The facility is a significant node in Russia’s energy infrastructure, processing 8.8 million tonnes of crude per year and producing more than 20 types of commercial products used to support Russian forces.
Hours later, a second drone strike hit the Syzran refinery, also in Samara Oblast, with footage showing fire breaking out near a storage tank farm that holds both crude oil and finished petroleum products ahead of distribution.
The Syzran facility feeds fuel into Russia’s domestic market, river logistics network, and export pipeline system, with the port of Novorossiysk serving as a key external shipment hub.
A separate drone attack also targeted an industrial facility in Tikhoretsk in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai overnight, sparking another fire that required over 200 firefighters and dozens of fire appliances to bring under control.
Meanwhile, Russia launched 219 drones at Ukraine from the evening of 17 April, with Ukrainian air defences destroying or jamming 190 of them — including Shahed loitering munitions and other types — across the country’s north, south, and east. The remaining 28 drones recorded hits at 17 locations, with debris from downed UAVs falling at a further nine sites.
Aircraft, missile units, electronic warfare systems, and mobile fire groups were all deployed in the defence effort, with some drones still airborne as of the morning report.
Russian oil for sale
US President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday issued a month-long sanctions waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products that are at sea, extending an earlier move to soften surging energy prices.
The license, issued by the Treasury Department, comes two days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Washington would not renew the waiver.
The latest move allows for the purchase of oil and petroleum products that have been loaded onto any vessel as of this Friday.
It prolongs an earlier easing of sanctions that expired on 11 April.
Both measures aimed to ease global supply shocks from the US-Israeli war against Iran.