A significant escalation in cross-border hostilities between Russia and Ukraine has been confirmed after Kyiv announced it carried out deep long-range drone strikes on two major Russian oil refineries overnight, while simultaneous Russian drone attacks across northeastern Ukraine left five civilians dead.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the targets of the raids were the Bashneft-Novoil plant in Russia’s Bashkortostan republic, located roughly 1,300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, and the Slavneft-Yanos refinery in Yaroslavl region, around 700 kilometers inside Russian territory. The operation, Zelensky explained, was designed to disrupt the oil revenues that Moscow relies on to fund its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which launched in February 2022. Beyond the refineries, the Ukrainian leader added that the strikes also damaged two Russian military patrol boats and multiple shadow fleet tankers in the Black Sea—vessels Moscow uses to export sanctioned crude oil in violation of international restrictions.
Local Russian authorities in Yaroslavl confirmed the attack on Slavneft-Yanos, with regional governor Mikhail Evraev describing it as the largest enemy drone assault on the area to date. Evraev said that 93 incoming drones were intercepted and shot down over the region overnight, but falling debris from the downed aircraft ignited fires in multiple storage tanks at the refinery. The blazes left four people injured, and emergency response teams have been deployed to bring the fires under control. Independent verification from BBC Verify has confirmed the authenticity of multiple social media videos and images showing thick plumes of smoke billowing from the refinery site, with at least four separate fires visible at the facility. This is not the first time energy infrastructure in Yaroslavl has come under Ukrainian attack, marking a pattern of targeting key Russian energy assets in recent months. Officials in Bashkortostan have not yet issued any public comment on the reported strike at the Bashneft-Novoil plant.
In a retaliatory wave of attacks overnight, Russian drones targeted multiple locations across Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, leaving five civilians dead and eight others injured. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) confirmed that three people were killed in the town of Balakliya, where private residential homes were hit and two structures caught fire. Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov later confirmed an additional two fatalities in a separate drone strike on a train station in the town of Lozova, with eight people wounded in that attack.
The Russian military said in an official statement that its overnight operations targeted fuel storage sites, energy infrastructure, transport hubs, and Ukrainian drone depots, adding that its air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 605 Ukrainian drones across multiple Russian regions overnight.
The stepped-up attacks from both sides come amid a prolonged stalemate on the main front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces, with no significant territorial shifts from either side in recent weeks. All international mediation efforts aimed at negotiating an end to the conflict have so far failed to produce any breakthrough. Zelensky framed Ukraine’s deep strikes as a strategic step to pressure Moscow into negotiations, saying, “Russia must choose peace, adding that Ukrainian attacks are strengthening chances for diplomacy.”