Drones from Ukraine carried out a couple of major strikes in Russia on Friday, hitting both the Novokuybyshevsk Oil Refinery in the Samara region and a military food supplier, the Konservsushprod factory, in the Bryansk region. Fires were reported at both facilities.
According to the Kyiv Post, the oil refinery produces jet fuel for the Russian military, while the food supplier also works with the military. Owned by Rosneft, the Novokuybyshevsk Oil Refinery processes about 8.8 million tons of crude oil per year and produces 20 different types of petroleum products.
Ukraine President Zelensky 2026 Creative Commons Photo
President Donald J. Trump and President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. White House Photo.
The refinery had been struck in April and again in August.
In Novokuybyshevsk, Kyiv Post reported, citing Telegram posts, that residents reported both explosions and “air defense activity.” This led to a drone threat alert.
Also, for the second time this week, drone attacks on the Moscow region led the region’s airports to close.
The End of the Pause
The attack, which is the first by Ukrainian drones on a Russian oil refinery in two weeks, may have global geopolitical implications.
That’s because President Donald Trump had been pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop such attacks, believing they were making gas prices rise, and had cited those attacks in his decision to make an oil import deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin and to suspend key sanctions on Russia, including the ones in a newly passed law named for the president’s late friend Sen. Lindsey Graham. This was followed by the brief disruption to Ukraine’s Starshield service.
Trump has blamed the refinery attacks for rising oil prices, has called for Zelensky to be replaced as Ukraine’s president, and made the deal with Putin in reaction to Zelensky refusing to hold off on the refinery strikes.
On Thursday, the day before the Novokuybyshevsk attack, the Wall Street Journal reported that Ukraine had agreed to pause its attacks on Russian oil refineries, with the pause likely to last through the midterm elections and possibly further into November.
Before Friday, there had been no refinery attacks for about two weeks, although Ukraine had not officially announced any such policy. Ukrainian officials, the Journal said, had been told in mid-October that “the campaign against refineries was effectively on hold, once missions already in motion were completed.”
Not Holding Off
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Evgeniy Khmara, the Journal said, had told Zelensky that Ukraine’s military “sensed it was best to hold off on refinery strikes because of the delicate diplomatic situation.” Zelensky was “fine” with this, but “stressed that the military was free to hit refineries again if it chose to.”
European allies had also reportedly advised Zelensky to hold off on refinery attacks until after next week’s midterm elections in the U.S. Zelensky has called for more protection for Ukraine’s own energy facilities, in exchange for agreeing to hold off on attacks.
In a follow-up Friday, The Journal framed the latest attack as Ukraine ending the pause and “defying” Trump.
“Our guys tried to be a little more careful during these days. But they do not have an order,” Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv earlier this week. Per The Kyiv Independent, the Ukrainian leader said in a briefing with reporters this week that while Ukraine had abided by an “energy truce” for three days, Russia had continued to hit Ukraine’s own energy infrastructure. This followed Trump’s announcement on October 11 that the two sides had agreed to such a truce, something that Zelensky said he had never signed off on.
“I said, ‘Let’s respond calmly by striking other targets for at least 72 hours. We won’t touch the oil refineries,’’’ Zelensky told the reporters. “That didn’t help. There was all kinds of rhetoric, and no one thanked us for those three days.”
Ukraine’s refinery attacks, the Journal reported, are aimed at “undermining oil revenues that help finance Moscow’s invasion of its smaller neighbor,” and Ukraine fears that stopping such attacks would help Russia in that mission.
In recent weeks, Kyiv Post noted that Ukraine has been targeting Russia’s metallurgical industry, rather than oil refineries. Ukraine has also been striking data centers and other parts of Russia’s data infrastructure, among other recent non-energy targets.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
