Ukrainian Drones Sink Russian Ship Yanina, Hit 3 Ufa Refineries

Ukrainian drones carried out a massive coordinated attack early Saturday, Aug. 1, sinking a Russian container ship in the Black Sea and striking three major oil refineries in the Republic of Bashkortostan alongside radar stations in the Krasnodar region. The Rosatom-affiliated FESCO container ship Yanina sank after being struck by two naval drones approximately 130 miles from the Russian port of Novorossiysk. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the sinking of the sanctioned vessel, noting it had a capacity of over 100,000 tons.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The president expressed his gratitude to the Ukrainian soldiers who are pushing the war back into Russia and responding to its attacks on civilian lives. He emphasized: “Our targets are specific, carefully identified sites that support the war effort.” Alexey Likhachev, head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, stated that all 17 crew members were rescued. He described the attack as “piracy,” claiming the vessel was operating in international waters and transporting civilian goods. The Ukrainian delegation to the OSCE recently reported that Russia has struck 232 civilian ships during the full-scale war, including over 30 in the summer of 2026 alone, as part of efforts to disrupt the Ukrainian maritime corridor. Long-range strikes on refineries and radar installations Further inland, long-range drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck three refineries in Ufa, Bashkortostan, located approximately 1,600 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Other Topics of Interest Russian Drone Strike on Rozetka Depot in Brovary Kills 1 A daytime Russian drone attack on a Rozetka logistics center in Brovary killed one person and injured six others, while a separate strike in the Bucha district left three wounded. The targeted facilities – Bashneft-UNPZ, Bashneft-Novoil, and Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim – form one of Russia’s largest refining clusters, with a combined processing capacity exceeding 23 million tons of oil annually. The SBU stated the refineries are legitimate military targets as they produce aviation fuel, diesel, and gasoline to supply the Russian military. Following the explosions, local authorities temporarily suspended flights at Ufa International Airport. In the Krasnodar region, SBU drones struck three Podlet-K1 and one Kasta-2E2 radar stations, which are utilized for detecting aerial targets. The strikes coincided with attacks on Russian electronic warfare and air defense positions in occupied Crimea. Satellite imagery confirmed fires at Cape Fiolent, the base of the Black Sea Fleet’s 475th Independent Electronic Warfare Center, and near an air defense base by the Kaya-Bash heights in Sevastopol. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed the scale of the Saturday morning attack was unprecedented, stating its air defenses intercepted 274 unmanned aerial vehicles across 16 regions and the Crimean peninsula. 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.