Fire at the Kirishi oil refinery in Russia’s Leningrad region after a Ukrainian drone attack, September 14, 2025

Sunday’s Coverage: Kyiv’s Drones Strike More Oil Refineries Inside Russia

UPDATE 0707 GMT:

Ukraine air defenses downed 59 of 84 drones launched by Russia overnight.

The Russians also fired three S-300 surface-to-air missiles.

The missiles and 25 drones struck 13 locations.

UPDATE 0700 GMT:

Three Czech Mi-171S helicopters have arrived in Poland to bolster air defenses after Russia’s drone incursion into Polish airspace last Wednesday.

The Czech military said pilots will start operational patrols in the near future.

Denmark is contributing two F-16s and an anti-air warfare frigate. France is sending three Rafale warplanes, and Germany will dispatch four Eurofighters.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s latest strikes inside Russia have damaged oil refineries, a chemicals factory, and railways needed for Moscow’s 42 1/2-month full-scale invasion.

A Ukrainian military intelligence official confirmed two sabotage operations that blew up trains and sections of railways and killed three Russian national guard officers dead. In the other, tanker carriages and their fuel were demolished. A Russian official confirmed the derailment of a freight train carrying 15 fuel tankers between the villages of Stroganovo and Mshinskaya.

The Ukrainian official said, “As a result of the destruction of the railway infrastructure in these areas, the Russians will experience significant logistical difficulties.”

Ukrainian drones also struck two major refineries this weekend. The Kirishi refinery, one of Russia’s largest with output of more than 17 million tons of oil per year, was set ablaze in the Leningrad region. The Bashneft-Novoyl refinery was hit in Ufa, the capital of the Bashkortostan Republic, around 1,500 km (930 miles) from the border.

And the Metafrax Chemicals plant in the Perm Krai, more than 1,800 km (1,118 miles) from the border, was attacked on Saturday night.

In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “The most effective sanctions – the ones that work the fastest – are the fires at Russia’s oil refineries, its terminals, oil depots. To significantly restrict Russia’s oil industry is to significantly restrict the war.”

He cited another Ukrainian strike last week, on the Primorsk oil-loading port in the Leningrad region. The port suspended operations after the attack.

“There is substantial damage; everything has been verified,” Zelensky said.