Smoke rises above the Tuapse oil refinery in southwest Russia after Ukrainian drone strikes, April 16, 2026
EA-Ukraine VideoCast: Kyiv’s Drone Strikes Rock Moscow
Thursday’s Coveage: Kyiv’s Latest “Long-Range Sanctions” Inside Russia Suspend Oil Production
UPDATE 1558 GMT:
The Kremlin claims Ukraine killed four people and injured 39 in a strike on a college dormitory in Starbucks in the occupied Luhansk region in the east of the country.
UPDATE 1549 GMT:
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the Trump Administration is walking away from efforts to end Russia’s invasion.
“If we see an opportunity to pull together talks that are productive, not counterproductive, and that have the chance to be fruitful, we’re prepared to play that role,” Rubio said after a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Sweden. “There are no such talks occurring at this time.”
He declared, “over the last few months, (we) just sort of sensed that there wasn’t a lot of progress being made.” The Administration was ready to return to the table if “dynamics…change”.
UPDATE 1011 GMT:
Ukraine has carried out an overnight strike targeting an oil refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl, about 700 km (434 miles) from the border.
President Volodymyr Zelensky posted, “We are bringing the war back home – to Russia – and that’s only fair.”
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine has struck Russia’s oil refineries 158 times during the Kremlin’s 51-month full-scale invasion.
The Poland-based outlet Vot Tak issued the report as Kyiv escalates its “long-range sanctions” of missile and drone strikes on key Russian facilities.
Ukraine has struck at least 24 of Russia’s 33 oil refineries that process more than 1 million tons of oil per year. Kyiv has hit all major refineries located within the European areas of Russia.
On Thursday, Ukraine hit the Syzran refinery in southwest Russia for the 11th time. A day earlier, it set afire one of Russia’s largest oil refineries near the town of Kstovo in the Nizhny Novgorod region, the second strike on the complex within days.
The Ryazan and Saratov oil refineries, also among Russia’s most important, have each been struck 15 times.
Amid the strikes and US sanctions, the Russian Government’s oil revenues fell 47% in January and February. They recovered in March because of the US-Israel War on Iran, with surging global oil prices and American sanctions waivers. However, they fell back again in April because of suspended production and export after Ukrainian strikes on refineries, terminals, and ports.
