‘Always Beyond the Line’: Ukraine Strikes Deep Into Russia, Hitting Major Oil Refinery and Power Plant

Ukrainian special operations forces said Tuesday they struck one of Russia’s largest oil refineries overnight, part of a fresh wave of deep drone strikes that also set ablaze a major power plant northeast of Moscow.

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces said their Deep Strike units, working with other branches of the military, hit the Volgograd oil refinery – one of the largest in Russia, with a processing capacity of more than 15 million tons of crude a year, or nearly 6% of the country’s total output.

Operated by Lukoil, the Volgograd refinery has come under repeated attack this year. The last strike in September forced a temporary shutdown.

“Special Operations Forces continue to conduct asymmetric actions to strategically weaken the enemy’s ability to wage war against Ukraine,” the military said in a statement, adding its motto: “Always beyond the line.”

In a separate overnight attack, drones struck the Kostroma GRES power plant in the city of Volgorechensk— one of Russia’s largest thermal power stations — sparking a massive fire. Regional governor Sergei Sitnikov confirmed the incident, saying there were no casualties and that electricity supplies had not been disrupted.

Footage circulating on social media showed flames and thick smoke billowing from the facility. The Telegram channel Exilenova+  also reported the strike.

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Russia Disguises Fuel Trucks as Milk Tankers to Reach Crimea

Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk revealed that Ukraine’s systematic interdiction campaign has fractured Russian logistics leading into occupied Crimea. With the Kerch Strait Bridge closed to fuel tankers and alternative maritime ferries heavily damaged, the Russian military has resorted to disguising fuel trucks as civilian vehicles – such as milk and food transportation trucks – to traverse the land corridor through occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses destroyed 75 Ukrainian drones overnight across several regions, including 49 over Volgograd, 6 over Voronezh, and several others over Rostov, Belgorod, and Oryol.

Seven more drones were reported shot down over occupied Crimea.

The latest strikes come just one night after Ukrainian forces targeted a thermal power plant in Russia’s Orel region and a key electrical substation near Vladimir – marking the second such attack in a week.

Orel region governor Andrey Klychkov said several drones were shot down early Wednesday, Nov. 5, damaging private homes but causing no casualties. Residents reported explosions near the city’s main thermal power plant, with some suggesting it may have been hit by a missile or jet-powered drone.

Meanwhile, in the Vladimir region, regional governor Alexander Avdeyev said drones struck energy infrastructure near the city’s suburbs, hitting what local media described as the Vladimirskaya substation — a major node in the regional power grid.

Kyiv has not commented on the attacks, which appear to be part of Ukraine’s campaign to disrupt Russia’s energy and fuel infrastructure ahead of winter.