Drones reportedly strike Orenburg gas processing plant
Location of the helium (left) and gas processing (right) plants in Orenburg (Photo: Supernova+ / Telegram)
Drones struck the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant in the Russian city of Orenburg overnight on June 24, likely triggering a fire, local reports said. The nearby Orenburg Helium Plant may also have been hit.
Satellite data showed several fire hotspots in the industrial zone of the gas processing plant, monitoring channel Exilenova+ reported.
Orenburg Airport temporarily suspended arrivals and departures overnight because of the drone attack.
Orenburg Oblast Gov. Yevgeny Solntsev had warned of possible communication disruptions.
Solntsev confirmed a “massive drone attack” on the morning of June 24. Several drones were shot down over an industrial facility in Orenburg, he said, without directly naming the gas processing plant.
Emergency services were working at the site, Solntsev said.
The Orenburg Gas Processing Plant and the Orenburg Helium Plant may both have been targeted, local residents told Telegram channel Supernova+.
Both facilities have been targeted by Ukrainian attacks before. They are part of the natural gas processing chain and are connected to Gazprom’s Orenburg Gas Chemical Complex, Supernova+ reported.
Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg, which owns the helium plant, operates gas fields and production facilities. The plant extracts and processes valuable components from natural gas, including helium.
Gazprom Pererabotka operates the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant, where natural gas is processed into commercial gas, sulfur, gas condensate and other products.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s Defense Forces had successfully struck Russian gas industry facilities in Orenburg Oblast, more than 930 miles from Ukraine’s border, on May 12, 2026.
The Orenburg Helium Plant was also struck in August 2025. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said at the time that it was Russia’s only helium production facility and one of the largest in Europe, with an annual processing capacity of about 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Helium is widely used in missile production, the space industry and aircraft manufacturing.
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