Ukraine knocked out nearly half of Russia's oil refining capacity
One of the explosions at the Moscow oil refinery during the attack on June 18, 2026 (Photo: Exilenova + /Telegram)
Damage to Russian oil refineries targeted by Ukrainian strikes remains visible from space months after the attacks, underscoring the lasting impact on Russia's refining sector, the Financial Times reported on July 30.
The authors note that in 2013, Vladimir Putin visited the Tuapse oil refinery to attend the launch of what was then Russia's most advanced refining complex. At the time, he described the high-tech facility as "exceptional."
Today, however, the refinery has become a symbol of a different technological breakthrough, the authors argue: Ukraine's ability to carry out precise long-range strikes deep inside Russian territory and inflict lasting damage on the country's energy infrastructure.
According to an analysis by the Financial Times, damage at some of Russia's largest oil refineries remained visible for weeks or even months after the strikes.
The newspaper said more than 30% of Russia's operational refining capacity and 45% of its nominal capacity had been knocked offline, triggering the country's worst fuel crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Engineers are now instructing repair crews on which components of Soviet-era refinery systems are irreplaceable, the hardest to replace and the most likely to cause prolonged shutdowns if damaged.
The FT highlighted strikes on the Tuapse refinery, where not only storage tanks with a combined capacity of about 80,000 cubic meters (2.8 million cubic feet) were destroyed, but also, apparently, a secondary processing unit.
Sergei Vakulenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Eurasia Center, said such units process low-quality heavy crude into lighter petroleum products, including gasoline.
The FT also identified crude oil desalting and dehydration units as among the most difficult to replace. One such unit was recently damaged at the Omsk refinery, one of the world's largest, the newspaper said.
According to the FT's analysis, damage from attacks on Russia's 10 largest oil refineries, including those in Omsk, Moscow and Tuapse, remained visible in satellite imagery for weeks or even months after the latest known strikes.
"Satellite images show how slowly repair work is progressing," the report said.
For example, the white roof of a petroleum storage tank remains where it landed more than a month after the attack on the Moscow refinery. Other equipment also remains damaged.
Smaller Russian refineries also remain largely out of operation, while storage and processing facilities continue to show extensive damage, the FT reported.
On July 10, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian long-range drones had struck several strategic targets inside Russia over the previous week, including the Omsk oil refinery. He said there was no longer a Russian refinery beyond the reach of Ukrainian weapons.
On July 13, Bloomberg reported that Russian refinery throughput had fallen to its lowest level in more than 21 years following a wave of Ukrainian strikes, deepening fuel shortages across the country.
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