Russia’s Major Oil Refinery Reportedly Targeted as 142 Drones Downed

The Afipsky Oil Refinery in Russia‘s Krasnodar Krai was reportedly targeted in a drone attack early Friday, Nov. 6.Air raid sirens sounded across Krasnodar Krai shortly after 1 a.m. local time. Residents also reported hearing loud explosions, saying the blasts continued even after the first reports of the attack.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.Amid the drone threat, the Krasnodar airport activated the “Kover” (Carpet) protocol, a contingency measure designed to protect airspace, temporarily restricting aircraft arrivals and departures.“The arrival and departure of aircraft are temporarily restricted,” Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) said.As of publication, Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev had not officially confirmed an attack on the refinery or reported a fire at the facility.There were also reports of explosions and fires in the Republic of Adygea and the city of Krasnodar. The city was reportedly blanketed in smoke drifting from the direction of the refinery.Initially, the Russian independent outlet Astra wrote that the refinery may have been hit, citing local residents who described numerous explosions and air defense activity in the area. The outlet said its readers had also reported heavy smoke reaching the outskirts of Krasnodar. Astra later reported that its OSINT analyst had established, based on photographs taken by eyewitnesses in Krasnodar, that the reservoir park at the Afipsky Oil Refinery was on fire. Smoke was also visible over the plant’s main territory. Other Topics of Interest Melania Trump Receives Ukraine’s Order of Princess Olga, Sends Letters to Putin and Zelensky Russian and Ukrainian officials gathered at the White House to mark the Oleshky ceasefire, as Kyiv urged further humanitarian missions. The Krasnodar Krai operational headquarters confirmed that a fire had broken out at an enterprise in Afipsk following the fall of drone debris, but did not identify the facility. “A fire broke out on the territory of one of the enterprises in Afipsk, Seversky District, due to falling UAV debris. There were no casualties,” the regional operational headquarters said.It added that emergency and special services were working at the scene. Drone debris also damaged the windows of an apartment in a low-rise residential building.The Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channels Exilenova+ and Exile+ reported after 7 a.m. that a fire was burning on the outskirts of Krasnodar, with the Afipsky refinery visible in the background.“The alarm continues in Krasnodar and its surroundings, the Afipsky Refinery is burning in the background and something, probably on the outskirts of Krasnodar. The attack on the Afipsky Refinery continues. New waves of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are coming,” the channels wrote. Kyiv Post could not independently verify reports of a possible attack on the refinery.Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram that its air defenses had intercepted and destroyed 142 Ukrainian drones overnight.“The air defense forces on duty intercepted and destroyed 142 Ukrainian UAVs over the territories of the Kursk, Belgorod, Tula, Oryol, Rostov, Astrakhan regions, the Moscow region, the Krasnodar region, the Republic of Crimea, and over the waters of the Black and Azov seas,” the ministry said.Ukraine has not commented on its possible involvement in the attack.The Afipsky Oil Refinery is one of the largest refineries in southern Russia, with an annual crude-processing capacity of about 7.2 million metric tons (7.9 million US tons). It produces gasoline, diesel fuel, gas condensate distillates, heavy oil residues and sulfur.Kyiv Post last reported on an attack on the refinery in late August. Ukrainian drones targeted sites across Russia’s Krasnodar Krai early on Aug. 25, and Ukraine’s General Staff later said that Defense Forces units had struck facilities at the Afipsky Oil Refinery.Before the August attack, the refinery had reportedly been targeted by drones four times earlier this year, on Jan. 21, March 14, June 11 and July 14. The attacks caused fires, including at the refinery’s tank farm. Julia is a Deputy Head of News and correspondent for Kyiv Post who has previously worked as a parliamentary editor, journalist, and news editor. She has specialized in covering the work of the Ukrainian parliament, government, and law enforcement agencies.