Drones hit one of Russia's largest refineries and Baltic ports

Drones attacked Yaroslavl and Leningrad Oblast in Russia on the night of 5-6 July, including one of Russia's largest oil refineries and oil export ports on the Baltic Sea.

Source: The Moscow Times, an independent Amsterdam-based news outlet, citing local authorities

Details: According to OSINT analysis, one of the targets was the Slavneft-YANOS refinery in Yaroslavl – one of Russia's five largest refineries, with a capacity of around 15 million tonnes of oil per year.

Local authorities blocked roads in the area of the refinery but made no mention of damage to the facility. The plant had previously been attacked on 28 June, and has been struck at least five times since December 2025.

Drones also attacked Leningrad Oblast. Local authorities have reported that drones were allegedly shot down and infrastructure damaged at the Luga training ground, as well as at the seaports of Ust-Luga and Vysotsk.

Vysotsk is home to a Lukoil terminal, through which nearly 9 million tonnes of petroleum products passed in 2025, as well as a coal terminal and a Novatek liquefied gas loading terminal with a capacity of 820,000 tonnes per year.

In addition, following the drone attack, a fire broke out at an industrial facility in the Dzerzhinsky district of Kaluga Oblast, where the region's largest petrochemical facility, Pervyi Zavod, is located.

Ust-Luga is one of Russia's largest oil export ports on the Baltic Sea, shipping around 700,000 barrels of oil per day. According to Reuters, petroleum product exports through the port exceeded 32.8 million tonnes in 2025.

Background:

• On 3 July, the NORSI refinery halted oil processing following a drone attack on 2 July.
• On the night of 1-2 July, the Lukoil-Nizhegorodorgsintez refinery in the city of Kstovo in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Oblast was damaged following a Ukrainian drone attack.
• Since late May, more than 30 Russian regions have introduced fuel sales restrictions. The strictest regime is in Crimea and Sevastopol, where the free sale of petrol was suspended on 21 June, with petrol stations fully redirected to supplying emergency and state services.
• Russia has begun importing petrol by sea for the first time in a long while to cover the fuel shortage following Ukrainian strikes on refineries.
• Russia is also in talks with Kazakhstan on importing around 50,000 metric tonnes of AI-92 petrol to ease domestic shortages caused by refinery shutdowns and unplanned repairs.
• Amid the shortage, Rosstat has stopped publishing its bulletin on consumer prices for petrol and diesel, following corresponding amendments to the federal statistical work plan by the Russian government.

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