A night drone strike on Russia’s Saratov refinery sparked a fire, with NASA
thermal imagery on Wednesday showing heat anomalies consistent with active
flames; Saratov regional governor reported industrial damage and one fatality.
The attacks, which Ukrainian forces have been carrying out almost daily in
recent weeks to degrade Russian fuel output, have expanded to facilities
thousands of miles from the border, including the Rosneft-owned Omsk refinery in
West Siberia (design capacity ~140,000 bpd). Multiple key refineries have been
taken offline, exacerbating nationwide gasoline shortages. Separately, two empty
tankers in Taganrog Bay on the Azov Sea were struck in a drone attack; two
people were wounded and no oil spill was reported. Industrial sites in
Nizhnekamsk were also damaged overnight, according to regional reports.
