On the night of June 6, drones attacked the Novoshakhtynsky oil refinery in the Rostov region of Russia. A large-scale fire broke out on the spot.
The governor of the Rostov region Vasyl Golubev confirmed that the Novoshakhtynsky oil refinery was hit. According to his information, the fire has already been extinguished. Local media reported that the flames reached the height of a 15-story building.
The Novoshakhtynsky oil refinery with a design processing capacity of up to 7.5 million tons of oil per year was put into operation in 2009. According to the Schemes project, in 2014, at the time of the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea, the wives of MPs from OPZZh Viktor Medvedchuk and Taras Kozak received shares in the refinery for approximately $40 000. In April 2021, the construction contractor "PETON" became the owner of the plant.
On February 19, 2021, the NSDC imposed sanctions against eight people, including Medvedchuk, and 19 companies, including the Novoshakhtynsky oil products plant. Sanctions were imposed under the article on the financing of terrorism.
Meanwhile, the governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov reported on the attack of an alleged Ukrainian drone on the Starooskolsky oil depot. As a result of the impact, one of the tanks caught fire, four brigades extinguished the fire. According to Gladkov, there were no casualties.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia stated that during the night the anti-aircraft missile system allegedly destroyed 13 drones in the area of the occupied Crimea, 6 drones over the Belgorod region and one “Neptun” anti-ship missile over the Rostov region.
Attacks on Russian refineries
This spring, Ukraine began to actively attack Russian refineries. In March, an oil refinery in the Russian city of Ryazan caught fire after a drone attack, drones attacked a refinery in the Nizhniy Novgorod region and an oil depot in Oryol, an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region. Meanwhile, the Lukoil refinery in the Nizhniy Novgorod region lost part of its capacity due to the attack, and the refinery in Slovyansk-on-Kuban partially stopped work.
At the end of March, a sharp decrease in gasoline production was recorded in Russia — by 7.4%, to 754.6 thousand tons. Politico wrote that drone attacks on Russian oil refineries led to the fact that one of the worldʼs largest oil powers ran out of gasoline.
On April 10, the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin advised Ukraine not to attack Russian refineries, but to "focus on military objectives." The Washington Post wrote that Ukraineʼs attacks on Russian refineries deepen tensions in relations with the United States. While the States dissuade Kyiv from attacks on Russian oil refineries due to fear of rising world prices, Ukraine considers them necessary to increase the cost of aggression for the Russian Federation.