Fires in the Tuapse oil terminal in southwest Russia after Ukrainian drone strikes, November 1, 2025

Wednesday’s Coverage: Zelensky Visits Frontline in the East

UPDATE 1030 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has commented on Russia’s latest drone strikes across the country:

The fact that the Russians continue targeting energy facilities and civilians shows once again that the pressure is still insufficient. It is crucial that the United States, Europe, and the G7 continue their sanctions and tariff efforts on Russian energy trade and finances. And Moscow must finally grasp how serious Europe is about its self-defense. It is time to make a decision on Russia’s frozen assets.

UPDATE 0835 GMT:

Poland is working on a deal to import liquefied natural gas from the US to supply Ukraine and Slovakia.

Officials hope to announce a joint declaration after a transatlantic energy conference in Athens, Greece later later this week. They foresee 4 billion to 5 billion cubic meters of US gas per year being shipped by southern Poland to Slovakia.

The European Union is hoping to ban imports of Russian LNG by the start of 2027. However, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, sympathetic to Vladimir Putin, has objected to the EU restrictions.

UPDATE 0758 GMT:

Bulgaria is planning to seize control of the Burgas oil refinery, operated by Russian oil giant Lukoil, and sell it to a new owner.

The refinery, the only one in Bulgaria, is at risk of closure because of US sanctions imposed last month on Lukoil as well as Russia’s State-owned Rosneft.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s latest attacks inside Russia have struck energy sites, including the Volgograd oil refinery.

Residents reported explosions and damage at the Lukoil-owned refinery, posting videos and photos of air defenses in operation. Large flashes were seek in the night sky towards the direction of the complex, around 450 km (300 miles) from the Ukrainian frontline.

Volgograd Governor Andrey Bocharov acknowledged the attack and confired that a fire broke out in an industrial zone. He claimed that a residential building and several homes were damaged, with a 48-year-old man killed from shrapnel.

In the Kostroma region, around 275 km (171 miles) northeast of Moscow, a thermal power plant was rocked by blasts.

In Russia-occupied Crimea, a Russian oil depot was struck in Bitumne near Simferopol. And in the occupied part of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, a warehouse with long-range Iran-type attack drones was hit with explosions and “a powerful secondary detonation”.

The Tuapse oil refinery’s operations are still suspended after a Ukrainian drone attack on Saturday on the Krasnodar region in southwest Ukraine.

The refinery halted processing after at least four piers were rendered inoperable and port buildings were damaged. One of three docked tankers was set afire.