Ukrainian drones attacked the Saratov oil refinery on the Volga overnight into Saturday, while Neptune cruise missiles hit the Proton-Elektroteks electronics plant in Oryol. According to the independent Russian outlet Astra, major fires broke out at both facilities, as reported by Ukrinform and the Kyiv Post. The refinery belongs to the state oil company Rosneft.
According to Ukrinform, the governor of Saratov region, Roman Busargin, initially confirmed casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure but did not name the refinery as a target. A witness told Astra that more than 40 explosions could be heard in Saratov and neighbouring Engels during the night; the air-raid siren sounded at least twice. According to t-online, it is unclear whether the refinery can continue operating.
A plant for Iskander-M and Pantsir-S1
In Oryol, according to Ukrinform, Governor Andrei Klychkov confirmed that “as a result of repelling a massive missile attack by the Ukrainian armed forces” production capacities of a plant in the Sovetsky district had been partially damaged. He did not name the plant; rescue forces were deployed. Astra and the outlet’s OSINT analysts attributed the fires to the Proton-Elektroteks plant based on eyewitness videos.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated that Neptune units had directly hit the company JSC Proton-Elektroteks; secondary explosions and a fire had occurred. According to the General Staff, the plant produces, among other things, components for the Kh-71 “Kover” air-to-ground cruise missile and for the 9M723 missile of the mobile Iskander-M system. According to the Kyiv Post, the consulting firm Defense Express pointed out that the affiliated companies ZAO Proton-Impuls and AO Proton are also located at the same industrial address and supply microelectronics and optoelectronic modules for Iskander-M and the Pantsir-S1 air-defence system.
Ukrainian military authorities argue that the destruction of the component production there reduces Moscow’s ability to build ballistic and cruise missiles for attacks on Ukrainian cities. The operation was conducted under Article 51 of the UN Charter on self-defence, according to the Kyiv Post report.
A plant that was already hit in October
For Proton-Elektroteks, this is not the first attack: the plant had already been severely damaged by Ukrainian shelling on 23 October; open-source footage at the time showed the collapse of at least one large assembly hall. According to Ukrinform, the refinery in Saratov, one of Russia’s oldest oil-processing plants, had also been the target of Ukrainian attacks several times and had to stop operations repeatedly due to damage, most recently in September 2026. According to these reports, it processed 4.8 million tonnes of crude oil in 2023; annual capacity is around 7 million tonnes. It produces petrol, diesel, heating oil and special lubricants, which according to Ukrainian reports also go directly to the Russian army.
The Russian Ministry of Defence stated on Telegram that air defence had intercepted and destroyed 411 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions during the night – according to the Russian service of the BBC, over more than ten regions of Russia as well as over the occupied Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. This figure is a statement by the ministry and cannot be independently verified.
The attacks overnight into Saturday follow a drone attack in the early hours of Friday, 6 November, on the Afipsky refinery in Krasnodar region. According to the Kyiv Post, the tank farm there burned, thick smoke drifted towards Krasnodar, and the aviation authorities activated the emergency protocol “Kover”, after which flight operations at Krasnodar airport were temporarily suspended. The Afipsky facility processes around 7.2 million tonnes of crude oil annually.
The strikes deep in the Russian hinterland fit Ukraine’s strategy of disrupting military supplies far behind the front. President Volodymyr Zelensky describes the attacks on Russian refineries as a response to Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian power plants and electricity grids, as reported by t-online. For the Russian population, this above all means that fuel prices and supply shortages could continue to rise if outages at the refineries last longer – the available sources do not provide reliable figures on this.
