Ukrainian Drones Disable Rosneft’s Two Largest Refineries

An August 2 drone attack attributed to Ukraine has disabled Russia's two largest oil refineries owned by state-run energy giant Rosneft.

This was reported by Reuters and corroborated by open-source intelligence.

American reconnaissance aircraft "constructed" routes for the Ukrainian drones so as to avoid enemy air defense systems says Russian media.

The Ryazan Oil Refining Company, Rosneft’s largest facility and one of the five biggest in Russia, has suspended roughly half of its operations. Meanwhile, the Novokuybyshevsk refinery has ceased all production following damage to its primary units.

Ryazan processed 13.1 million tons of crude oil in 2024—amounting to 4.9% of Russia’s total oil refining. Sources report that two of its main processing units, KDU-3 and KDU-4, were shut down post-strike. Currently, only the KDU-6 unit remains active, running at approximately 48% of the refinery’s total capacity.

Novokuybyshevsk, with an annual capacity of 8.3 million tons, has been entirely offline since the strike. Its KDU-11 unit, capable of refining 18,900 tons per day, was directly hit. The plant’s only other primary unit, KDU-9, is already down for scheduled overhaul until early September.

The timeline for restoring full operations remains unclear. The Moscow Times reports repairs at Ryazan could take "one or several weeks," but there is no clear estimate for Novokuybyshevsk.

A Telegram post from the Russian Arms channel claimed the drones were An-196 "Lyuty" UAVs launched following U.S. Air Force reconnaissance missions over Krasnodar using RC-135V Rivet Joint SIGINT aircraft. The post blamed the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, and Scandinavian countries for indirectly supporting the attack by enabling flight route planning to bypass Russian air defense radars.

No official comment has been made by Rosneft or the Russian Ministry of Defense.