Ukraine reported on July 31 that its Security Service and Defense Forces struck an aircraft repair plant in the illegally occupied Crimea, infrastructure at Russia’s Port Taman, and a major Volgograd oil refinery in a coordinated operation.
This latest operation struck three critical parts of Russia’s war-support network: military aviation, maritime logistics, and fuel production.
Putin with Military in 2018 Creative Commons Image
“The Security Service of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has carried out another series of successful strikes against Russia’s military, logistical, and oil refining infrastructure,” the command said in a statement.
Volgograd Oil Refinery Set Ablaze By Ukrainian Drone Strikes
The Lukoil-Volgogradneftepererabotka oil refinery—one of the Russian Federation’s largest oil refining enterprises, with a capacity of approximately 15 million metric tons of crude oil per year—was successfully struck.
The plant produces gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
The Volgograd refinery, which has the capacity to process 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, produces gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. It was hit by Ukrainian forces, Ukraine’s Security Service said in a Telegram post.
Charles Kennedy, in OilPrice.com, wrote, “Russia has been suffering from gasoline and diesel shortages for nearly three months, as Ukraine’s drone campaign to strike Russian refineries forced many large processing sites offline in the spring and early summer.”
Andrei Bocharov, the regional governor, said that five people were wounded in the attack, but didn’t specify the damage. He later said the body of a woman was recovered from beneath the rubble of a damaged residential building.
Putin in 2012 Creative Commons Photo
Russia’s top online retailer Wildberries said in a Telegram statement that another one of its logistic hubs in the city of Volgograd was set ablaze following the attack, but there were no injuries. More than a dozen Wildberries warehouses have been hit in the last ten days.
Photos from the city showed a massive smoke cloud after the refinery attack.
Russia’s Port Taman Grain Terminal Hit Hard
A Ukrainian drone attack has inflicted “significant damage” on a major grain export terminal at Russia’s Taman port on the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. The grain terminal has a capacity of 5 million metric tons.
Reuters reported that Russian exporters have redirected grain from southern regions away from the Sea of Azov to deep-sea grain terminals in the Black Sea by truck and rail.
Witnesses at the scene said a fire broke out at the port, which the Telegram channel Exilenova+ described as one of southern Russia’s key logistics hubs supporting Russian forces in Crimea.
The SBU has previously targeted infrastructure in Taman. In June 2026, it struck the Tamanneftegaz oil and gas terminal in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai.
The Aircraft Repair Plant Is The Latest Crimea Target Hit
Ukraine has increasingly isolated Crimea, and in the latest attack, in the temporarily occupied city of Yevpatoriia, two hangars used to store aircraft and a production workshop at the Yevpatoriia Aircraft Plant were struck.
Since the earliest days of the war, the occupied Crimea and the Black Sea have been hammered by Ukrainian drone and missile attacks.
In early 2022, Ukrainian troops sent the flagship of the fleet, the cruiser Moskva, to the bottom with a Neptune anti-ship missile.
Drone and anti-ship missile attacks on Russian navy ships and headquarters in the Black Sea have decimated Moscow’s fleet, forcing it from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk.
Attacks on the Saky airbase and the Kerch Bridge that connected Russia to Crimea ensued.
The drone attacks on Russian supply columns, oil and gas infrastructure, and power stations have taken a huge toll on Russia. Currently, nearly half of Crimea is without power.
In the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian drone attacks have hammered Russia’s “shadow fleet, which has caused Moscow to suspend shipping. This is a significant development as Russia ships 25 percent of its grain through there.
Ukraine Has Turned The Crimean Peninsula Into An Island
Ukrainian long-range drone and missile strikes have turned Crimea from a secure rear base and “unsinkable aircraft carrier” into an exposed and costly bottleneck.
Kyiv has set out on a path designed to degrade and isolate Russian forces based on the strategic Black Sea peninsula.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry described the R-280 route as the primary land corridor for fuel, ammunition, and equipment for Russia’s southern forces. The route is a major focal point for Ukrainian drone operations.
Sustained, targeted attacks on logistics trucks and fuel tankers have reportedly caused a massive drop in traffic and severe fuel shortages in Crimea. It has been characterized as “The Highway of Death.”
The drone campaign’s intensity has forced Russian occupation authorities to heavily restrict civilian and non-essential commercial traffic on several sections of the highway, diverting vehicles to smaller, secondary roads.
Retired U.S. Army General Ben Hodges considers Crimea the decisive, strategic “fulcrum” of the war in Ukraine. He argues that whoever controls the peninsula will ultimately win the war.
By rendering the peninsula unusable as a military stronghold, Ukraine can force a Russian withdrawal without needing to engage in a difficult and costly direct ground assault to retake it, he says.
Ukraine’s isolation of Crimea by conducting a “logistical lockdown” of Russian forces and attacking their ability to resupply their troops has resulted in seizing the initiative.
Frontline units are being stripped of air defenses as the Russians are moving them to protect Moscow and oil refineries.
Many analysts believe that Russia is losing its grip on Crimea as the peninsula has transitioned from a safe rear stronghold into an active military liability.
Intensifying Ukrainian drone and missile strikes have successfully degraded Russian logistics, forced the Black Sea fleet to relocate from Sevastopol, and caused severe fuel and power shortages.
“Every Russian military-industrial complex facility that has been struck, every burning refinery or port, is another step toward the collapse of Russia’s war machine.
These systematic operations by the SSU to undermine the enemy’s military potential will continue,” the SSU stated.
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
