Drone strikes on Russian oil refineries have caused fuel shortages in eight regions
In the night of November 13, 2026, Ukrainian drones attacked the Volgograd oil refinery in the Russian Federation. The facility, owned by Lukoil, accounts for about 5% of the country's total oil refining volume. This was reported by The Moscow Times citing Astra, according to the portal PromPolitInform.
Regional Governor Andrei Bocharov reported localized fires at the facility in the southern industrial zone of Volgograd. According to him, despite the massive drone raid, there were no reported casualties or damage to residential buildings. However, footage released by eyewitnesses shows flames erupting directly from the plant’s production facilities.
Scale of production losses
The Volgograd Refinery is among the top ten largest oil processing enterprises in the Russian Federation, with an annual capacity of approximately 14 million tons of raw materials. This attack is not the first for the plant in 2026: the facility sustained damage in May, June, and October previously. After an incident on October 2, production processes at the site were halted completely.
Fuel market crisis in Russia
In total, over the past two weeks, Ukraine has targeted nine out of 35 Russian oil refineries. This has led to a sharp decline in daily oil refining volumes, dropping from 700,000 to 500,000 tons. Against the backdrop of reduced supply, restrictions on fuel sales have been introduced in at least eight Russian regions, including the Leningrad and Nizhny Novgorod regions, as well as in Buryatia and Karelia.
In Moscow, Rosneft gas stations have implemented limits: gasoline sales are capped at 50 liters per vehicle. Quotas for fuel sales into canisters are also in effect, limited to no more than 20 liters. Analysts attribute these measures to the depletion of refined product stocks resulting from the systematic targeting of infrastructure that supplies the domestic needs of the aggressor state.
Illustrative photo: Snpz / CC BY-SA 4.0
Read also: Volgograd Oil Refinery Suspends Operations from October 2 Following UAV Attack
