Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the country’s military has hit two Russian oil refineries in “long-range” attacks.
In a social media post, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s defence forces struck a refinery in Yaroslavl (240km northeast of Moscow) and the Bashneft-Novoil refinery in Bashkortostan (1,200km east of Moscow).
The regional governor for the Yaroslavl region, Mikhail Evraev, called it the “largest ever attack by enemy drones”, saying 93 drones had been destroyed but oil storage tanks were hit by falling debris.
He said in a statement on Telegram that emergency services were working to extinguish the blaze.
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Footage shared on social media showed large plumes of black smoke rising from the direction of the refinery on Thursday morning.
Zelenskiy said the attacks were hitting “Russia’s oil revenues, which it uses to finance the war and the killing of Ukrainians.”
“Russia must choose peace,” he added.
Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russian oil refineries in recent months, causing fuel shortages which the authorities have stabilised in many parts of Russia though government officials say problems remain in some areas.
The Ukrainian president said its forces also struck two military patrol boats and vessels from Russia’s shadow fleet in the Black Sea.
As Ukraine launched more than 600 drones at Russia overnight, attacks continued in the other direction.
At least six people were killed and 36 injured in another round of Russian overnight attacks on Ukraine, targeting the eastern city of Balakliia and the northern region of Sumy.
Separately, German prosecutors have detained a 33-year-old Ukrainian national suspected of gathering information on the premises of a defence company in southern Germany for sabotage purposes, they said on Thursday.
The man, who was detained on Sunday, is suspected of working as a low-level agent on behalf of a foreign spy agency, they added, without naming which country.
Nato, meanwhile, said it working to get Ukraine the air defences it “urgently needs”, its secretary general has said, after Kyiv failed to shoot down a single Russian missile in an attack on Wednesday.
Zelenskiy warned that Moscow was seeking to significantly boost missile production aheadin advance ofer.
Speaking at a National Security and Defense Council meeting on winter resilience, the Ukrainian president did not rule out the idea that stalling missile supplies from western allies were “aimed at making Ukraine, so to speak, more willing to compromise” in peace talks with Russia.
After meeting Nato’s Mark Rutte, Zelenskiy said: “It is important to cut through all red tape and make the necessary political decisions. Literally every day, people’s lives here in Ukraine depend on the resolve of our partners in Europe and the United States.”
Russia launched 24 ballistic missiles in an overnight attack on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people. Preliminary data from the Ukrainian air force showed its defences shot down 98 of the 115 drones fired by Russia overnight, but none of the ballistic missiles.
On Wednesday, Zelenskiy said that in the first half of 2026, supplies of air defence missiles from Ukraine’s allies had fallen to a third of their 2025 level – Reuters/Guardian
