Ukraine hit Russia's Kirishi refinery, oil station

Bloomberg News on May 5, 2026

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Ukraine said it hit a Russian export-oriented refinery and oil-pumping station in Kirishi near the Baltic coast, as Kyiv ramps up attacks ahead of planned Victory Day ceasefires.

Ukrainian drones hit three primary crude processing units overnight at the Kirishi refinery and a fuel tank at the nearby pumping station, which services flows of crude and petroleum products to the Baltic port of Primorsk, the country’s Security Service SBU said on Telegram.

Heating anomalies were detected at the Kirishi site and in nearby areas, signaling blazes, satellite images taken on Tuesday by NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System show.

Ukraine has been striking Russian energy assets — from key export terminals on the Black and Baltic seas to refineries and pumping stations — on an almost daily basis as it tries to curb the windfall profits the Kremlin receives from a global oil rally. As a result of intense strikes in April, Russia’s oil-processing industry cut its average daily operations to the lowest since December 2009, according to estimates from analytics firm OilX.

The governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, confirmed an overnight attack on the Kirishi industrial area, saying in a Telegram statement that the refinery was targeted. He didn’t specify whether the facility itself was affected.

The 400,000-barrel-a-day Kirishi oil-processing plant, which has been targeted by multiple drone attacks in the past, halted operations in late March after a strike, a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified, said in late April. The facility halted runs again following the latest strike, Reuters cited unidentified people familiar with the situation as saying, suggesting the refinery had briefly resumed operations.

Russian oil producer Surgutneftegas PJSC, which owns the refinery, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Oil-pipeline operator Transneft PJSC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other strikes

Kyiv at the weekend said it inflicted significant damage to infrastructure of the oil terminal in the Primorsk port in a drone barrage that also hit several vessels.

This week, Ukraine also hit a residential tower in an upscale district of Moscow, just a dozen kilometers away from the Kremlin. Hundreds of Russian drones have been striking residential areas in Ukraine on a regular basis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a Victory Day ceasefire with Ukraine for May 8-9, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there had been no coordination with his government. He declared his own ceasefire starting at midnight on May 5, saying Ukraine will act reciprocally from that moment.