Ukraine hit overnight an oil refinery near Moscow, damaging a processing plant co-owned by Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, as Russia prepares to extend its ban on diesel exports through the end of October.
In a sign that Ukraine and Russia have not agreed on any partial truce not to strike energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s forces hit with drones the refinery in Yaroslavl, while Russia attacked infrastructure in Kyiv.
The 300,000-barrels-per-day refinery in Yaroslavl, fewer than 200 miles northeast of Moscow, was hit overnight with drones in a joint operation by the Security Service of Ukraine, the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, and the Foreign Intelligence Service, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday.
The president shared a video of a burning refinery.
Mikhail Yevrayev, governor of the Yaroslavl region, said on Telegram that an oil refinery had sustained damage in an overnight drone attack. A fire that had erupted at the refinery was extinguished by Thursday morning, the governor added.
The recent attacks from both sides show that there isn’t any truce not to attack energy sites.
Ukraine’s latest attack on the Yaroslavl refinery comes just as Russia considers extending its ban on diesel exports for another month, through the end of October.
Earlier this week, Russian daily Vedomosti reported that the government would extend its ban on diesel exports for all fuel producers to October 31, due to delayed refinery maintenance and the need to rebuild fuel reserves before winter. The ban, expanded in July from traders and small refineries to cover all producers, had been due to expire September 30.
Russia has been suffering from a gasoline and diesel crunch since the spring, when Ukraine intensified its drone attacks at Russian refineries, aiming to cripple fuel supply to the front lines and to the domestic Russian market.
The Russian ban on diesel exports has added to the Middle East crisis to tighten global middle distillate markets.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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