Military monitoring channel Exilenova+ reported that Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles scored direct hits on the KINEF (Kirishinefteorgsintez) oil refinery. The enterprise stands as one of the largest petroleum refining complexes in Russia, commanding an annual crude oil processing capacity of approximately 20 million metric tons.
Multiple ground detonations across the industrial site triggered an expansive fire that was later captured by orbital thermal sensors and orbital satellite imagery.
Leningrad Oblast Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko acknowledged that incoming drones struck an industrial zone in Kirishi, while claiming that regional air defense systems shot down 93 unmanned aerial vehicles across the oblast during the overnight raid. Drozdenko also claimed that strike drones targeted the neighboring town of Vsevolozhsk.
The cross-border refinery strike follows a public declaration on Nov. 6 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who warned that Kyiv will systematically escalate precision strikes against Russian domestic oil refineries in direct retaliation for Russian bombardments targeting Ukraine's civilian energy grid.
KINEF refining facility was targeted by Ukrainian strike drones in August 2026.
On Oct. 18, 2026, Ukrainian long-range strike drones staged an expansive combined operation across Leningrad Oblast, targeting the Petersburg Oil Terminal, a core regional logistics hub operated by e-commerce retailer Ozon, and a primary data center belonging to technology corporation VKontakte.