Hot August in Russia: by the end of the month, Ukraine had put around 24% of Moscow’s refinery capacities partially or completely out of action with drone strikes. The 14th Separate Regiment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (14 полк СБС) was responsible for this, among other things.

The operation received a special order from by the commander of the unmanned systems forces of Ukraine, Robert Brovdy (combat name “Magyar”), the name “Ruszkik Haza”. Magyar, a Ukrainian with Hungarian roots, thus established a historical link to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, where the motto “Ruszkik Haza” (Russians, go home!) originated.

August was Ukraine’s strongest and most successful attack on the Russian oil industry to date (-> Latest news from the Ukraine war). The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine ordered the operation “to undermine the offensive potential of the Russian invaders, impede the supply of fuel and ammunition to the occupying military units and force Russia to cease its armed aggression against Ukraine”.

Ukrainian long-range attack drones - ©Archive
Ukrainian long-range attack drones are being prepared for launch.

Targets met in August:

  • August 2: Rosneft’s Novokuybyshev oil refinery (output: 8.3 million tons/year).
  • August 2: Ryazan refinery, Rosneft’s largest plant, which also supplies the Moscow region with fuel, loses about half of its capacity (6.9 of 13.8 million tons).
  • August 3: Fuel and lubricant depot in Sochi.
  • August 7: Afipsky refinery, Krasnodar oblast (6.25 million tons/year).
  • August 8: Ertan fuel and lubricant depot.
  • August 10: Saratov refinery (5.8 million tons/year).
  • August 12: Unecha-Transneft-Druzhba refinery.
  • August 13: Novoshakhtynsk refinery.
  • August 14: Lukoil’s Volgograd refinery, the largest refinery in southern Russia (14.8 million tons/year = 5.65 percent of total Russian production).
  • 15 August: Rosneft’s Samara refinery (8.9 million tons/year). The refinery had already been attacked in March 2024 and February 2025, this time the ELOU-AVT-6 distillation plant was hit. Its design capacity alone is 6 million tons of oil.
  • 16 August: Nevinnomysskiy Azot chemical plant – one of the largest producers of ammonia and fertilizers in Russia. The plant produces up to 1 million tons of ammonia and 1.4 million tons of ammonium nitrate annually. It was part of the supply chain of acetic and nitric acid for the plant in Dzerzhinsk for the production of explosives.
  • August 18: Nikolskoye-Transneft pumping station on the Druzhba pipeline.
  • August 18: renewed attack on the Volgograd refinery.
  • August 20: Novoshakhtinsky refinery in Rostov.
  • August 21: Unecha pumping station of the Druzhba oil pipeline. It pumps oil to the Russian port of Ust-Luga, from where the tankers of the shadow fleet depart, as well as to Belarus, Hungary and Slovakia.
  • August 22: Albashneft refinery.
  • August 24: Syzran refinery in Samara (8.5 million tons/year = 3 percent of the Russian total).
  • August 24: Around ten Ukrainian drones hit the Russian port of Ust-Luga and the Novatek terminal near St. Petersburg. The facility is the most important location on the west coast of Russia for oil and liquid gas exports by ship.
  • August 28: renewed attacks on the Kuibyshev and Afipsky refineries.
  • August 30: Krasnodar refinery supplies 1.1 percent of Russia’s total production.
  • August 30: renewed attack on Syzran refinery.

Ukraine continued its attacks in September

The attacks continued in September. On September 7, for example, the Ilya refinery (Krasnodar region, 6 million tons/year) was attacked by the resistance movement “Black Spark” together with Ukrainian special forces. The gas fractionation plant with a capacity of 6 million tons of crude oil per year was hit. It is the key to the production of modern Euro 5 gasoline fuels of the A92 (normal) and A95 (super) grades commonly used in Russia.

©Military News

Also on September 7, the control station of the 8-N oil pipeline near the village of Naitopovichi in the Bryansk region was hit. The station is of strategic importance for the transportation of oil products from the Mozyr and Novopolotsk refineries.

Consequences of the attacks on society

Russian oil exports by sea fell significantly, primarily due to the outages in the port of Ust-Luga. Between August 18 and 24, only two tankers could be loaded instead of the usual five.

There is now an almost nationwide fuel shortage in Russia, especially in remote regions. In the Kuril district of the Sakhalin region, the sale of petrol was already completely stopped in August. Severe supply shortages were also reported in the Moscow region at the beginning of September. The price of A95 rose to 865 euros per tonne on the St. Petersburg stock exchange – in January it was still at 620 euros.

In a letter to President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) called for mechanisms to compensate companies that suffer losses as a result of drone attacks. In order to ensure their safety, companies would have to incur considerable expenses, including for the purchase of protective equipment such as fences, cameras, armored structures and electronic warfare systems. In addition, it is often necessary to rebuild facilities that have already been destroyed.

In addition to refineries, metallurgical, chemical and energy companies are also affected. Among other things, they are calling for the tax deduction of investments in drone defense measures.

Political consequences

On August 28, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó imposed a Schengen visa ban and an entry ban on Robert Brovdy. Szijjártó described the attack on the Druzhba pipeline as a threat to Hungary’s energy security, as the majority of exports to Hungary run through it. Brovdy reacted sharply and described Szijjártó as a “bone dancer” who dances on the bones of dead Ukrainians. “I am Ukrainian and I will come to my father’s homeland after you,” Brovdy continued. “There are many real Magyars in Hungary, and one day you will make life difficult for them.”

Further attacks on key targets

In addition to the refineries, Ukraine has also increasingly attacked other strategically important targets in the Russian hinterland in recent weeks:

  • August 6: Tatsynska railroad junction (Rostov region).
  • August 12: Arzamas instrumentation plant (Nizhny Novgorod region, control computer for X-32 and X-101 rockets).
  • August 15: Explosion in the gunpowder workshop of the Elastik plant (Ryazan region). The building of the gunpowder workshop was completely destroyed, the authorities reported 28 dead and more than 150 injured.
  • August 26: Explosion on the Ryazan-Moscow oil pipeline, supply to the capital interrupted.
  • August 28: Attacks on the Petrov-Val (Volgograd region) and Kryaz (Samara region) railroad stations.

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Russian attacks in August

In August, Russia fired over 4,200 unmanned long-range attack weapons at Ukraine. There were particularly strong waves on August 21, 28 and 30, each with around 600 drones. Ukraine only officially reports hits on civilian targets – such as the attack on Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko’s office in Kiev on September 7. Hits on military-industrial targets are usually not published.

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