Ukrainian Drones Strike Russia's Second-Largest Refinery at Kirishi; Leningrad Region Reports 113 Drones Downed
Ukrainian long-range drones struck the Kirishi refinery (KINEF) in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, overnight on November 8-9. Governor Alexander Drozdenko first said air defences had downed 81 drones over the region, then raised the figure to 113, and confirmed hits on the industrial zone in Kirishi. NASA's FIRMS fire-monitoring system registered multiple hotspots at the plant.
Drozdenko said the attack also damaged an apartment building in Vsevolozhsk, where one family was evacuated, and that debris fell on a roof in the town; Reuters reported that Russian officials reported no injuries. Russia's defence ministry said 430 drones were shot down overnight across 13 regions, the Moscow region and Crimea.
The Kirishi refinery, about 115 kilometres southeast of St. Petersburg and some 800 kilometres north of Ukraine, is Russia's second-largest refinery, processing about 17.7 million tonnes of crude a year, roughly 6.4 percent of the national total, and the only refinery in northwestern Russia. Its operator, Surgutneftegas, was placed under U.S. sanctions in January 2025 and later sanctioned by the EU and the UK as well.
The plant has been targeted repeatedly over the past year, with drone strikes in September and October 2025, and an attack on August 30, 2026 that damaged two primary distillation units and halted all processing at the site.
(Source: Reuters)
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：俄罗斯列宁格勒州基里希镇航拍，右侧远处为炼油与电力设施（资料图，2011年）。照片：Igor Dvurekov 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Aerial view of Kirishi, Leningrad Oblast, Russia, with refinery and power facilities in the distance (file photo, 2011). Photo by Igor Dvurekov, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
