Russia’s Syzran oil refinery in the Samara region, located on the Volga River around 800 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory, has been shut down after a May 21 drone hit its main crude processing unit, Reuters reported on Monday, citing industry sources.
According to the sources, the attack hit the CDU-6 crude distillation unit, which accounts for more than 70% of the refinery’s capacity. The unit was fully shut down after the strike, and one source told Reuters that repairs “may take more than a month.”
The Syzran refinery, operated by state-controlled oil company Rosneft, has a capacity of about 8.5 million metric tons of crude per year – roughly 170,000 barrels per day. In 2024, it processed 4.3 million tons of crude, producing about 1.5 million tons of diesel, 800,000 tons of gasoline and 700,000 tons of fuel oil for both domestic market and export.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called the strike “yet another Ukrainian long-range operation against Russian oil refining”, Reuters reported, and that Ukraine would “persist in this strategy”. The Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces said the strike caused a major fire at the plant.
The Syzran refinery is among several major Russian plants affected by the Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks. Almost all large refineries in central Russia have been forced to halt or cut fuel production after such strikes, which together accounted for about a quarter of Russia’s total oil refining capacity.
Previously Ukrainian long-range drone struck Russia’s Syzran oil refinery, causing a major fire at a Rosneft facility and reported casualties. The attack is part of Kyiv’s ongoing campaign against Russian energy infrastructure, which has disrupted multiple refineries and significantly reduced parts of Russia’s fuel refining capacity in recent weeks.