Ukrainian Drones Strike the Kirishi Refinery, Russia's Second Largest, in an Overnight Attack

Ukrainian drones struck the Kinef oil refinery in Kirishi, Leningrad Oblast, overnight on November 9, in one of the deepest attacks on Russian energy infrastructure reported in recent weeks. The plant, formally called the Kirishi Petroleum Organic Synthesis plant, sits about 800 kilometres north of Ukraine. Ukrainian monitoring channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ reported large explosions at the site, according to The Kyiv Independent.

NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System, which uses satellite data to detect heat and fires, registered multiple hotspots at the facility during the night. Leningrad Oblast Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said air defences shot down 113 Ukrainian drones over the region. His first count, given while the attack was still under way, was 81. Drozdenko said drones struck the industrial zone in Kirishi. He said debris from downed drones hit an apartment in Kirishi and the roof of an apartment building in Vsevolozhsk, and that no one was killed or injured in either place.

A plant that carries a large share of Russian refining

The Kinef plant can process 20 million metric tons of oil a year. It produces more than 6 percent of Russia's total refined oil, which makes it the country's second largest refinery. The plant is under Western sanctions, including measures imposed by the United States.

Ukraine has hit the refinery before. Drones targeted the plant on August 30. On May 5, the refinery temporarily stopped processing after drone strikes damaged three of its four crude distillation units. Senior Ukrainian officials told The Kyiv Independent that Kyiv never agreed to the energy ceasefire with Russia that US President Donald Trump imposed unilaterally on October 31, as Ukraine resumes strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.

How much damage the November 9 strike caused, and whether the plant has stopped or cut processing, has not been independently confirmed. Neither side's claims about the night could be verified in full, and officials in Kyiv and Moscow routinely give competing accounts of the same attacks.

Russia answers with a large drone wave of its own

The same night, Russia launched 317 drones at Ukraine, according to Ukraine's Air Force, which said its air defences shot down 271 of them. In Kremenchuk, in Poltava Oblast, Russian drones struck a 16 storey residential building and a hotel building. Poltava Governor Vitaliy Dyakivnych said seven people were injured. Ukraine's State Emergency Service said rescuers saved 15 residents from the damaged buildings.

Russia's Defense Ministry gave a far larger figure for the Ukrainian attack, claiming its air defences shot down 430 Ukrainian drones over 14 regions and Crimea overnight. Independent verification of both Moscow's and Kyiv's claims is difficult because of the ongoing war.

The strikes land a day before talks in Abu Dhabi

The overnight exchange came one day before Russian, Ukrainian and US representatives are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi for a renewed round of trilateral peace negotiations starting on Tuesday, November 10. Both sides have kept striking energy targets while the talks are prepared, and the Kirishi attack shows how far Ukraine's drone campaign now reaches into northwestern Russia, well beyond the border regions hit most often earlier in the war.