Reported drone strike against Russian oil refinery in Samara Oblast causes fire
Drones attacked the Syzran Oil Refinery in Russia's Samara Oblast overnight on Feb. 19, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev reported on his Telegram channel.
Residents posted videos on social media purportedly showing a large blaze at the refinery. Sounds of explosions were reported at around 2:45 a.m. local time.
The strike reportedly caused a fire at the refinery. There were no casualties, according to Fedorishchev.
The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify the claims.
The Syzran Oil Refinery, lying around 700 kilometers (430 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, was opened in 1942 and belongs to the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.
The facility "has a processing capacity of 8.9 million tons of oil per year," said Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation.
"Its products include fuel, aviation kerosene, and bitumen," Kovalenko said while reporting on the attack.
Ukraine considers Russian oil facilities to be valid military targets, as fossil fuel profits supply Moscow's war machine. The Ukrainian military has launched repeated attacks against Russian refineries with long-range drones.
In less than two months of 2025, at least 17 Russian oil facilities were attacked by drones, according to the independent Russian Telegram news channel Astra.
On Feb. 17, Ukrainian drones, operated by the Special Operations Forces and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), hit the Ilsky Oil Refinery in Krasnodar Krai and the Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station in the Kavkazsky district of Kuban.
The pumping station was taken out of operation due to the strike.
Read also: US-Russia talks on Ukraine peace — why Putin will be 'very happy'
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