General Staff Confirms Strikes on Engels Airbase and Saratov Refinery

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed that defense forces struck the Saratov oil refinery and the Engels strategic airfield in Russia early Sunday morning, Aug. 2. According to the military’s statement, the strikes resulted in confirmed hits and subsequent fires at both locations in the Saratov region.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The General Staff highlighted that the Engels airfield is a primary base for Russian strategic aviation, housing Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers regularly used to launch missile attacks against Ukrainian territory. The military noted that the Saratov refinery, with an estimated annual processing capacity of 7 million tons, is heavily involved in supplying the Russian armed forces. Earlier in the day, Saratov region Governor Roman Busargin acknowledged that an overnight drone attack had damaged “civilian infrastructure” in both Saratov and Engels. Astra Telegram channel reported a large fire at the refinery following the strike, noting it was at least the 15th attack on the facility since the start of the full-scale war. A previous strike on July 8 halted operations at the site after hitting its primary refining unit. The General Staff also confirmed overnight strikes on the Lyudinovskaya oil depot in the Kaluga region, which stores fuel for the Russian military, and a storage and launch site for attack drones near Navlya in the Bryansk region. Additionally, the military reported the destruction of several Russian UAV control points on Saturday across the Kursk region in Russia, as well as in the occupied areas of the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions. Other Topics of Interest Drones Strike Saratov Refinery and Samara Wildberries Hub Ukrainian drones struck a major oil refinery in Saratov and a Wildberries logistics center in the Samara region early Sunday morning. Long-range drones hit Bashkortostan refining cluster In a separate long-range operation on Sunday, Ukrainian drones struck the Bashneft-UNPZ oil refinery in Ufa, Bashkortostan, located over 1,700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. OSINT analysts from the Astra Telegram channel geolocated the target using eyewitness footage of the attack. The head of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, stated that air defenses intercepted 25 drones, but one UAV fell on the industrial zone, sparking a fire. The Bashneft company operates three large, interconnected refineries in Ufa’s northern industrial zone: Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim, Bashneft-Novoil, and Bashneft-UNPZ. Together, they form one of Russia’s largest refining complexes, with a combined annual capacity of 23.5 million tons. The Ufa refining cluster was also targeted during a massive wave of coordinated deep strikes on Saturday, Aug. 1. Strikes target Russian logistics network The confirmed military strikes in the Saratov, Kaluga, and Bryansk regions coincided with a drone attack on a major Wildberries logistics complex in Novosemeykino, located in the neighboring Samara region. The 178,600-square-meter facility serves as a primary distribution hub for the Volga region and central European Russia. Wildberries management confirmed the attack on the warehouse, stating there were no casualties. Independent monitoring channels reported that the logistics center is located approximately 450 meters from a large installation displaying a Russian flag and the pro-war “Z” symbol. The strike in Samara is part of a sustained campaign against Wildberries, Russia’s largest e-commerce retailer. Over the past two weeks, at least 18 strikes have targeted the company’s supply chain infrastructure, damaging or destroying approximately 1 million square meters of warehouse space – roughly 38% of its major logistics capacity. The systematic destruction of these hubs, which has caused estimated losses of up to $1.2 billion for the retailer, recently triggered a 10% to 30% surge in consumer prices on the platform as the company canceled promotional discounts to absorb the financial impact. Ten of the company’s 26 largest warehouses have sustained damage, including facilities in the Moscow and St. Petersburg regions that were completely destroyed by fire. The Sunday strikes follow a massive wave of coordinated deep strikes on Saturday, Aug. 1, which targeted three Bashneft refineries in Bashkortostan, multiple radar stations in the Krasnodar region, and sank a Russian container ship in the Black Sea. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.