Ukraine strikes one of Russia’s 5 largest oil plants that processes 8m tons of oil in Tatarstan

Ukraine’s Security Service [SBU] and main directorate of intelligence under the Defence Ministry [GUR] were behind the attack on Russian Nizhnekamsk oil refinery in Tatarstan on Tuesday morning, Ukrainian media reported, with reference to unnamed sources within the intelligence department. A Ukrainian long-range drone hit the primary oil processing facility at the Nizhnekamsk refinery, after which fire broke out there, according to the report. The capacity of this processing unit is 8 million tons of oil, which amounts to 2.6% of the total annual refining of the Russian Federation per year. In addition, this plant is among the 5 largest refineries in Russia. "We continue to work systematically to ensure that Russia has fewer and fewer opportunities to finance the war of aggression against Ukraine. We will continue to cut off oxygen to the gas station country in order to minimize the flow of petrodollars to the military budget of the Russian Federation," the source told media. According to Baza, at least three people were injured at the refinery. This is the Taneco oil refinery in the city of Nizhnekamsk in the Republic of Tatarstan. The region’s governor confirmed the attack on the refinery, but in his statement, he did not specify the name of the refinery that was attacked. Russian media has confirmed that Nizhnekamsk oil refinery was hit, while stressing that “the technological process was not disrupted.” The Russian media also claimed that drones allegedly “attacked a hostel” in a special economic zone of “Alabuga”, and that two people were injured during the attack. Ukraine in recent months has stepped up attacks on Russia’s oil refiners in a bid to impact Kremlin’s highly lucrative trade in refined products. Kyiv believes its drone attacks on Russia, the world’s second largest oil producer, are justified because Ukraine has suffered large-scale damage to its infrastructure from Russian air strikes since the start of Russia’s full-fledged invasion of the country in February 2022.