Ukrainian drones carried out a large-scale attack on industrial facilities in Russia’s Volgograd region overnight, with fires reported near one of the country’s largest oil refineries and the Caustic chemical plant. Regional governor Andrei Bocharov confirmed a mass drone attack on what he described as “industrial infrastructure” in the region. Residents of Volgograd reported numerous explosions and drones flying over different parts of the city during the night. Local residents also complained on social media that no air-raid alert had been issued despite the scale of the overnight drone activity and explosions.
According to Astra, which analysed footage from the area, a major fire broke out near two neighbouring industrial facilities in southern Volgograd — the Volgograd oil refinery and the Caustic chemical plant.
Ukrainian sources said the Volgograd refinery was struck in an operation involving Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. Fires were reported on the refinery grounds.
NASA’s FIRMS satellite fire-monitoring system detected thermal anomalies near the refinery’s delayed coking unit and the ELOU-AVT-1 and ELOU-AVT-5 units, which are among the facility’s key processing installations.
The Volgograd refinery, owned by Lukoil, is among Russia’s largest oil-processing facilities. It has an annual capacity of around 15 million tonnes of crude oil, representing approximately 5% of Russia’s total refining capacity. The plant produces petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, fuel oil and bitumen.
The nearby Caustic plant is one of the Volgograd region’s major chemical enterprises. According to Ukrainian sources, it produces dual-use chemical products supplied to Russia’s military-industrial sector.
The Volgograd refinery has been targeted by Ukrainian drones several times. A major fire broke out at the facility following an attack on July 31, when key production infrastructure was reportedly damaged and primary oil-processing units were forced to halt operations.
