Ukrainian drone strike Russia’s fourth-largest refinery – the Lukoil refinery in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod region, about 800 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Local residents reported the attack on regional Telegram channels, according to Militarnyi.
They said they heard several explosions near the refinery and later posted videos showing a fire on the plant’s premises. However, the exact consequences of the strike are currently unknown.
The governor of Nizhny Novgorod region confirmed the attack but stated that, as usual, “air defense forces successfully repelled the attack of five drones. According to preliminary information, there are no casualties or damage.”
Lukoil‑Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez in Kstovo processes crude oil from Western Siberia and Tatarstan. Oil is supplied to the plant via two pipelines: Almetyevsk–Nizhny Novgorod and Surgut–Polotsk.
The finished products are shipped by rail, road, river transport, and pipeline. The refinery’s processing capacity is 17.0 million tons of crude oil per year, making it the fourth-largest refinery in Russia.
At the end of 2022, the plant launched a residual oil processing complex. This allowed an increase in the production capacity of Euro-5 environmentally friendly diesel fuel by 1.1 million tons per year.
A year earlier, in 2021, the Kstovo refinery launched a PENEX isomerization unit, designed to convert light gasoline fractions into high-octane components for commercial gasoline. This doubled gasoline production to 800,000 tons per year.
In addition, the refinery is one of the key producers of raw materials for asphalt production and polymer feedstock for plastics manufacturing.
It is worth noting that the Ukrainian drone attack in June 2025 on the industrial area near the Lukoil refinery in Kstovo is considered the start of the summer campaign of strikes on Russia’s fuel and energy complex.
As a result, by the end of September, almost 40% of Russia’s refinery capacity had been halted, mostly due to regular strikes by Ukrainian long-range drones.
At that time, a small plant called “Bitumnoye Proizvodstvo” was hit. This is a bitumen production facility located on the territory adjacent to the refinery. It is unclear whether the plant was the intended target or if the drones simply missed the refinery.
Tags: russia - ukraine war
