Ukrainian drones strike Gazprom refinery deep inside Russia, sparking fire

Ukrainian drones struck the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refinery in Bashkortostan, 800 miles from the border, sparking a fire and wounding two civilians. The strike is part of an intensified Ukrainian campaign that has hit four Russian refineries in three days, driving Russia's oil refining output to its lowest level since 2002 and causing severe domestic fuel shortages. Meanwhile, Russian retaliatory strikes killed four in Ukraine, including two on a passenger train, as Kyiv struggles with a critical shortage of Patriot air defense missiles.

Salavat refinery drone strike

• ▪Russian online retailer Wildberries reported that the August 13, 2026 drone attack started a fire at one of its evacuated, empty facilities in the Salavat industrial zone.
• ▪Ukrainian drones struck the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat oil refining and petrochemical complex in Russia's republic of Bashkortostan overnight on August 13, 2026, causing a fire.
• ▪Bashkortostan Governor Radiy Khabirov stated that the drone attack on the Salavat industrial zone wounded two civilians and started a fire.
• ▪The Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refinery, located about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from the Ukrainian border, processes up to 74 million barrels (7.5 million metric tons) of crude annually, representing 2.7% of Russia's total refining capacity.

Ukrainian energy infrastructure campaign

• ▪Kyiv officials state that the ongoing campaign targeting Russian energy infrastructure is intended to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek a peace deal.
• ▪The Russian refinery in Orsk, Orenburg region, suspended operations after a Tuesday strike, with Governor Yevgeny Solntsev stating repairs to key foreign equipment could take six months due to international sanctions.
• ▪Since the beginning of August 2026, at least four Russian refineries in the Orenburg, Tyumen, Saratov, and Volgograd regions have halted crude processing following Ukrainian attacks.
• ▪The August 13, 2026 strike on the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refinery was the fourth Ukrainian drone attack on Russian refineries in a three-day period.

Russian refining capacity impact

• ▪An S&P Global analysis reported that Ukrainian attacks disrupted operations at 26 Russian oil-processing facilities in 2026, with seven failing to restore production by late July.
• ▪Disruptions from drone strikes have caused fuel shortages across Russia, with residents in 16 regions reporting long gas station lines and Gazprom and Lukoil stations restricting sales of AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline.
• ▪EA Analytics reported that Russian refining output fell to approximately 3.6 million barrels per day, marking its lowest level since May 2002.

Sevastopol explosives incident

• ▪Four explosives experts from Russia's Emergency Ministry and a security guard were killed in Sevastopol on August 13, 2026, when an unexploded Ukrainian weapon detonated during an inspection.
• ▪A Russian serviceman was killed by an explosion in Sevastopol, and Russia's Federal Security Service detained a Russian woman suspected of acting on Ukrainian intelligence orders.

Russia-Ukraine war context

• ▪A Kiel Institute report indicated that European countries paid U.S. defense companies 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) for Ukrainian military equipment in the first half of 2026, while financial and humanitarian aid fell 41% compared to 2025.
• ▪President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine has 2.5 times fewer Patriot interceptor missiles than in 2025, having obtained only 1% of the 5% stock purchase requested from the United States.
• ▪Russian retaliatory strikes overnight using 133 long-range drones killed at least four people across Ukraine, including a train engineer and his assistant when a Shahed drone struck a passenger train in Odesa.