Russia battles attacks by Ukrainian drones, rebel troops

Russia faced a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks including against oil refineries and reported fierce fighting with insurgents who’d crossed the border vowing to take the war to President Vladimir Putin.

Air defenses intercepted a total of 25 Ukrainian drones in seven regions including Moscow early Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said on its Telegram account. Strikes were continuing in several regions later Tuesday, according to Telegram statements from local authorities.

Lukoil PJSC’s Norsi plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region halted a unit after “an incident,” its press service said Tuesday. The statement came shortly after the region’s governor Gleb Nikitin disclosed on Telegram that a drone attack on the Norsi facility had resulted in a blaze. A strike near Surgutneftegas PJSC’s Kirishi refinery not far from St. Petersburg didn’t cause any damage.

Separately, the Defense Ministry and the Federal Security Service said their forces fought off attempts by armed groups to cross from Ukraine into the Belgorod and Kursk regions in battles that involved tanks, artillery and aircraft fire.

They blamed “Ukrainian terrorist groups” for the assaults with tanks and armored vehicles in Belgorod region, claiming as many as 60 attackers were killed. Four assaults by “sabotage and reconnaissance groups” in the Kursk region were driven back with “significant losses” for the insurgents, they said in statements.

The cross-border attacks were claimed on social media by three rebel Russian groups — the Russian Volunteer Corps, the Siberian Battalion and the Legion of Freedom — that are fighting on the side of Ukraine and have declared their intention to overthrow Putin’s regime by extending the war onto his territory.

Ukraine has conducted a campaign of drone attacks targeting Russian infrastructure and industrial facilities in recent months, as it seeks to undermine the Kremlin’s war effort and retaliate for waves of missile and drone attacks on its territory since the February 2022 invasion began.

The strikes aimed at oil facilities seek to disrupt Russia’s exports and its ability to supply fuel to the army on the front lines. The overnight attacks also threatened a recovery in the nation’s fuel-processing capacity just as domestic seasonal demand picks up.

The drone downed in the town of Kirishi that’s home to the major export refinery run by Surgutneftegas caused “no casualties or damage,” regional Governor Alexander Drozdenko said on Telegram.

Russian refineries had largely restored their oil-processing capacity by the end of February following damage from previous strikes. To support the domestic market, the authorities imposed a temporary ban on gasoline exports from March 1 and ordered refiners to coordinate their seasonal maintenance plans to ensure steady supplies.

Any disruption to oil-processing operations from new drone strikes may redirect fuel flows between Russian regions and cause potential logistical bottlenecks.

The Norsi refinery, which has the capacity to process some 340,000 barrels a day, did not disclose the scale of the damage after Tuesday’s attack.

“The company is making every effort to restore normal operations as soon as possible,” it said, adding that it plans to coordinate with other market players to meet domestic fuel demand.

The drone attack hit Norsi’s largest primary-processing unit, significantly reducing its ability to take crude oil, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported, citing an unnamed source at the facility.

However, “Norsi has three additional smaller primary units, which could have operated below capacities,” Mikhail Turukalov, independent U.S.-based analyst, said in a research note on Tuesday. Full deployment of those units could give some support to the facility’ operations even amid the current damage, he said.

Norsi curbed operations earlier this year after an internal incident, which led to lower gasoline exports from Russia. Its oil-processing rates returned to normal levels in February.

The Kirishi refinery, with a capacity of some 350,000 barrels a day, mostly focuses on oil-product exports. That means any disruptions would affect Russia’s seaborne flows of petroleum products, including diesel.