Ukraine says it struck Russia's largest refinery in Omsk, 2,500 km from its border
Ukraine's General Staff says drones hit the Gazpromneft refinery in western Siberia, which it says supplies the Russian army. Omsk's governor confirmed a drone reached an industrial zone but gave no details of damage.
The strike
Ukraine's military said on Thursday, 8 October, that it had struck the Omsk refinery in western Siberia, about 2,500 km from Ukraine. The General Staff calls it Russia's largest oil refinery and says it supplies fuel to the Russian army. The plant is operated by Gazpromneft. The General Staff did not provide details on the impact of the attack in its statement on social media.
Drone attack and official reactions
Omsk Governor Vitaly Khotsenko said an industrial zone was hit by a drone and that Russian air defences had shot down most of the drones. He said in a Telegram post:
One drone has reached the northern industrial zone.
He did not give details of any damage and asked residents not to create artificial panic at petrol stations and to keep calm. Ukrainian drone maker Fire Point said the target had been hit and a fire broke out. Video posted by the Telegram channel Exilenova+ showed flames and a column of thick black smoke above the industrial site. Local authorities restricted mobile internet and closed Omsk airport, while residents reported a series of explosions near the refinery.
Earlier attacks and capacity
The refinery was hit on 6 July, when Ukrainian forces struck its primary crude distillation unit ELOU-AVT-11, which has a design capacity of 8.4 million tonnes a year, according to the General Staff. Reuters reports that the plant had to halt operations for a time after the July strike. Another series of attacks on the refinery was recorded on 2 August. Capacity figures vary across the coverage, from more than 20 million to up to 22 million tonnes a year, and Onet puts the plant at about 8% of Russia's total refining capacity.
- Ukrainian forces hit the refinery's primary crude distillation unit, which halted operations for a time
- Another series of attacks on the Omsk refinery
- Zelensky says Kyiv will step up attacks on Russian refineries
- Ukraine's General Staff says it struck the Omsk refinery, Russia's largest
Salavat and the wider campaign
Overnight, Ukrainian drones also attacked the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refinery in Salavat, Bashkortostan, where fires broke out on the site. Zelensky said on 3 October that Kyiv would step up attacks on Russian refineries in response to a new Russian air strategy aimed at forcing Ukrainians to leave the capital and other large cities. Ukraine, under heavy missile and drone attack from Russia, is running its own long-distance drone campaign against military, energy and commercial targets. The aim, according to Reuters, is to raise the cost to Moscow of continuing the war.
Kramatorsk bombing
In eastern Ukraine, a Russian bombing attack on Kramatorsk killed at least 33 people and injured 18 others, according to local authorities and police. The strike hit a street in the front-line city where two passenger buses were travelling at the time. Zelensky spoke of a bus stop, while police images showed debris, bodies and the burnt-out wreck of a bus. Moscow had not issued an immediate response, and Russia denies deliberately shelling civilians.
