Ukrainian drones target Perm oil refinery hub for second time in weeks

Video footage captured by local residents showed uncrewed aerial vehicles flying over the region.

Perm was earlier targeted on Aug. 21. During that raid, a drone strike on the Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez refinery reportedly damaged a primary atmospheric-vacuum crude distillation unit.

Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez LLC is among Russia’s largest crude oil refining facilities. Operating as part of the Lukoil group, the enterprise processes over 13 million metric tons of crude oil annually.

On Sept. 2, a fire broke out in Perm at the Proton-PM plant, which produces rocket engines.

On Aug. 21, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukrainian forces struck the Perm oil refinery, while also acknowledging successful strikes against the Marinovka military airfield and other Russian defense installations.

Ukrainian forces struck the Perm refinery — situated more than 1,600 kilometers (roughly 1,000 miles) from the Ukrainian border — alongside the Marinovka military airfield in Volgograd Oblast and naval targets in the Black Sea.

Overnight into Aug. 21, drones struck Russia's Perm Krai, with a plume of smoke observed above the Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez complex. The raid triggered temporary flight restrictions at Perm's Bolshoye Savino Airport, while residents reported hearing explosions across the city.