Ukrainian drones hit the Omsk oil refinery in Siberia and started a fire at Russia’s largest refinery, according to Vitaly Khotsenko and Ukraine’s military. The strike reached about 2,700km from Ukrainian-held territory, adding a long-range attack to the shadow fleet war in a conflict now on day 1,595.
Khotsenko, the Omsk region’s governor, said Ukraine attacked the refinery, Russian air defences destroyed most of the drones and there were no casualties. He said emergency services were working at the scene. Fire Point said its upgraded FP-1 drones carried out the attack.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Siberia
Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strike as an “important achievement” in his nightly video address. He said, “Siberia, too, is now within reach of Ukrainian precision strikes.” The military also said the refinery attack was one of Ukraine’s longest-range strikes of the war.
The range helps explain why the refinery became the focus. Omsk sits close to Kazakhstan, and the Ukrainian military said the target was deep enough inland to stand out from earlier drone attacks. Fire Point said the strike was a record for strike drones “not only in Ukraine, but worldwide. Prior to this, the Omsk oil refinery had remained out of reach for Ukrainian drones.”
Vitaly Khotsenko and the fire
Khotsenko’s account and the Ukrainian account point to different parts of the same event. He said most of the drones were destroyed before reaching the refinery, while Ukraine said the strike still caused the fire. That difference leaves the damage question on the refinery itself more important than the drone count.
Ukraine also hit Ust-Luga and Vysotsk ports on the Baltic Sea, along with targets in Kaluga and Yaroslavl. The Omsk strike came on the eve of the Nato summit, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv expected “decisions” on Ukrainian air defence at the Ankara summit. Mark Rutte said, “Allies and Nato partners must continue to ensure Ukraine gets what it needs.”
Nato summit in Ankara
The refinery strike landed as Russia kept up pressure elsewhere. On Monday, Russia fired missiles and drones into apartment buildings in Kyiv for the second time in a week, killing at least 21 people. Just days earlier, a huge attack on Kyiv killed at least 27 people.
Donald Trump was due to hold talks with Zelenskyy at the Nato summit in Turkey, and he said on Monday that a resolution to the war in Ukraine was “getting closer than people realise”. For Kyiv, the immediate question is how much damage the fire caused to processing operations at the Omsk oil refinery, and whether the range shown in Siberia changes the case for more US-made interceptors.
