Ukraine Attacks Russian Oil Refinery, Russia Claims Drone Near Nuclear Plant

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Ukraine Attacks Russian Oil Refinery, Russia Claims Drone Near Nuclear Plant

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Ukrainian forces launched an overnight attack on August 2, 2026, targeting the Rosneft PJSC refinery in Saratov, Russia, resulting in a large fire. Reports indicate that the strike successfully hit the ELOU-AVT-6 crude oil distillation unit, which has an annual processing capacity of 6 million tonnes of oil and is crucial for the refinery’s operations. Disabling this unit effectively halts the refinery’s entire downstream processing chain, impacting the production of naphtha, kerosene, diesel, and fuel oil. The Saratov refinery is one of Russia’s oldest and processes approximately 5.8 million metric tonnes of crude oil annually, contributing about 2.2% of Russia’s total refining capacity. This incident marks at least the 15th attack on the Saratov refinery since the beginning of the full-scale conflict.

In separate developments, Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom claimed on Saturday, August 1, 2026, that a Ukrainian drone struck a passage near one of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’s reactors. Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev stated that the drone hit a gallery used by personnel to move between the plant’s six reactor units and that another attempted attack targeted its dry spent nuclear fuel storage site. Likhachev reported no explosion, but noted the strike occurred just meters from the reactor compartment of Unit 3. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on Saturday that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost off-site power for nearly two hours, marking the 23rd such incident since the full-scale Russian invasion. The plant, Europe’s largest, has been under Russian control since March 2022 and requires external power for its cooling systems to maintain the safety of its nuclear materials. Ukraine has not commented on the alleged drone attack on the nuclear plant.

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