Fire at a Russian oil refinery after a Ukrainian drone strike, August 2, 2025

Saturday’s Coverage: NATO Develops Mechanism for US Weapons to Kyiv

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1512 GMT:

Ukraine’s air defenses downed 60 of 76 drones and only one of seven missiles fired by Russia overnight.

At least seven civilians were wounded by a Russian missile strike on a residential area in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

Two men, aged 57 and 74, were hospitalized in moderate condition.

UPDATE 1506 GMT:

Ukrainian media outlets have named the MP under suspicion of graft as Oleksii Kuznetsov, a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party.

Other officials under investigation are Serhii Haidai, former Governor of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, and Andrii Yurchenko, head of the Rubizhne district in Luhansk.

UPDATE 0658 GMT:

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies have given more details on investigation of an MP and high-level officials for graft.

The suspects were involved in procurement of military drones and signal jamming systems at inflated prices, said the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

The agencies said in a statement that they were investigating the legislator, two local officials and a number of National Guard personnel over the taking of bribes. Four arrests have been made.

“The essence of the scheme was to conclude state contracts with supplier companies at deliberately inflated prices,” they said. The suspects had received kickbacks of up to 30% of a contract’s cost.

The investigations were revealed just over a week after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky put the Prosecutor General in control of the agencies, and 48 hours after Zelensky reversed the legislation and restored their independence.

Zelensky posted on Saturday after meeting the heads of NABU and SAPO:

Zelensky posted about the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO):

A Ukrainian MP, along with heads of district and city administrations and several National Guard servicemembers, were exposed for bribery. I am grateful to the anti-corruption agencies for their work.

There can only be zero tolerance for corruption, clear teamwork in uncovering it, and ultimately, a fair sentence. It is important that anti-corruption institutions operate independently.

UPDATE 0614 GMT:

Despite India’s refineries suspending deliveries of oil from Russia, “two senior Indian officials” have insisted there is no change in Government policy to restrict the imports.

Amid threats of secondary sanctions from Donald Trump and narrowing price discounts, Indian State-owned refineries suspended Russian oil purchases last month, according to sources speaking with Reuters.

But an official told the outlet, “These are long-term oil contracts. It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight.”Despite the halt, Trump declared a 25% tariff starting on Friday, claiming that India and Russia are “dead economies”.

State-owned refiners such as Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, and Bharat Petroleum have not purchased Russian oil for more than a week, said “four sources familiar with procurement plans”. The companies are sourcing mainly Middle Eastern grades such as Abu Dhabi’s Murban and West African crude.

At least four oil tankers, each with up 700,000 barrels, are idling off India’s western coast.

One official said the Government had “not given any direction to oil companies”.

On Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal declared, in light of Trump’s threat, “Our bilateral relationships with various countries stand on their own merit and should not be seen from the prism of a third country. India and Russia have a steady and time-tested partnership.”

India sharply increased oil imports from Russia after Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is second to China in purchases of Russian supplies.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s drones struck deep inside Russia late Friday and early Saturday, hitting two oil refineries and military targets.

Among the targets were:

  • The Ryazan oil refinery, Russia’s fourth largest;
  • The Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery in the Samara region, almost 1,100 km (684 miles) east of Moscow;
  • The Primorsko-Akhtarsk airfield in southwest Russia;
  • Two companies in the Penza region, about 750 km (466 miles) southeast of Moscow, specializing in control elements, telecommunications systems, cryptographic communications equipment, and printed circuit boards for Russian missile systems and the space program;
  • Russia’s sole defense facility producing air defense command centers.
  • A section of the Central Asia gas pipeline, the third-longest in the world at 5,000 km (3,107 miles), transporting natural gas from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to Russia.

The Ukrainian military said a large fire was set at the Ryazan refinery. The complex produces about 840,000 tons of TS-1 aviation kerosene per year, around 8.4% of Russia’s total, and up to 17 million tons of oil, 6.1% of annual refining.

Drones also attacked the Annanefteproduct oil depot, which handles up to 160,000 tons of light petroleum products per year, in the Voronezh region.

Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed 112 Ukrainian drones were downed over almost nine hours from Friday night to Saturday morning. Samara Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev declared that an elderly man was killed inside a house that caught fire from falling drone debris. A guard at an industrial facility was killed, said acting Rostov Governor Yuri Sliusar. In Penza, Governor Oleg Melnichenko said a woman was killed and two people wounded.

In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky commented: