KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian drones smashed into another Russian refinery overnight, starting a fire that produced huge clouds of black smoke, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, in what appeared to be the latest long-range attack on Moscow’s vital oil industry.
The drones targeted the Syzran oil refinery, located more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) inside Russia, Zelenskyy said on social media, where he posted a video of the aftermath.
It was not possible to verify the video or independently confirm the attack. The governor of Russia’s Samara region, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said that two people were killed by Ukrainian drones in Syzran but he didn’t mention the refinery. Russia’s Astra news outlet said that Ukrainian drones struck the Syzran refinery owned by oil and gas giant Rosneft.
Ukraine has expanded its mid- and long-range strike capabilities, deploying eye-catching drone and missile technology that it has developed domestically as it battles to defeat Russia’s 4-year-old invasion. Ukrainian weaponry and expertise are now sought by other countries, whereas earlier in the war Kyiv had to plead for massive foreign military aid.
Ukrainian drones hit another refinery the previous day, Zelenskyy said, as attacks on Russian oil assets that play a key part in funding the invasion have become almost daily occurrences.
“Overall, our long-range plan for May is being carried out largely in full,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post late Wednesday. “The key targets are Russian oil refineries, storage facilities, and other infrastructure tied to these oil revenues.”
The escalating attacks have hurt Moscow’s revenue at the same time as it feels the economic pinch of international sanctions. With some attacks reaching more than 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) into Russian soil, the strikes have contributed to some Russians feeling unsafe due to the war and heaped pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine reportedly makes battlefield gains
Ukraine’s new reach has also helped it push Russian troops back along parts of the front line, with Ukrainian forces making their most significant battlefield gains since 2024, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Ukraine’s “intensified midrange strike campaign” since early 2026 “has also degraded Russian forces’ ability to conduct offensive operations across the theater and has also likely supported recent Ukrainian advances,” the Washington-based think tank said in an assessment late Wednesday.
Ukraine has slowed Russia’s battlefield advance and is gradually regaining the initiative along the front line, Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said, partly due to Russian forces being denied access to Starlink satellite services to steer its drones toward targets.
“Russia has since not been able to find a full replacement (for Starlink), giving Ukraine a critical battlefield advantage,” Fedorov told reporters. He spoke on Saturday but his comments were embargoed till Thursday.
Fedorov said in February he had asked Elon Musk’s SpaceX to help deny Russia use of the service in Ukraine. Starlink is a global internet network that relies on around 10,000 satellites orbiting Earth.
Fedorov said that mid-size drones have become a key technological advantage for Ukraine on the front line and claimed that Ukrainian forces have doubled their interception rate of Russian drones over the past four months.
In other developments, Ukraine is also preparing changes to military pay and contract terms, he said.
Drone attacks claim victims in Ukraine and Russia
Russia’s Defence Ministry said that air defences downed 121 Ukrainian drones between late Wednesday and early Thursday.
In the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine, eight people were injured by Ukrainian drones, according to the regional governor, Alexander Shuvayev.
Russia has also invested heavily in drones, using them to bombard civilian areas of Ukraine throughout the war and killing more than 15,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.
Ukraine’s air force said Thursday it shot down 109 out of 116 drones that Russia launched overnight.
One civilian was killed and at least six others were wounded in the strikes in the north, south and east of the country, emergency services said.
Russia holds nuclear drills
Elsewhere, Russia and neighbouring Belarus held the final stage of their joint nuclear drills. As part of the exercises, trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles rumbled over forest roads, atomic-powered submarines set sail from Arctic and Pacific ports, and crews scrambled into warplanes.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko inspected Russian short-range, nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles at a military unit.
The three-day drills that began Tuesday come amid the surge in Ukrainian drone strikes, which make it harder for officials in the Kremlin to cast the conflict in Ukraine as something so distant that it does not affect Russian civilians.
Susie Blann And Barry Hatton, The Associated Press
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Associated Press writer Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
