113 Ukrainian drones downed during attack that sparked fire at Russia’s Kirishi refinery
Key Facts
A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at the Kirishi refinery in the Leningrad region, which regional governor Alexander Drozdenko described as Russia’s second-largest oil refinery. Drozdenko said the fire was contained and a woman was killed after she was struck by falling drone debris. He added that air defenses downed 113 Ukrainian drones during the overnight attack on November 9. The governor also reported damage to a residential building in Kirishi. The incident puts a major Russian refining facility among a wave of reciprocal attacks on infrastructure, while details of damage at the refinery remain limited in published statements.
Russian forces said on November 9 that they had struck three electricity substations across Ukraine. They also claimed to have hit a cargo ship in the Black Sea, with Moscow saying the vessel was carrying weapons to Ukraine. The reported hit on the ship and its mission remain claims by Russian forces, with no independent confirmation in the available accounts. The reported strikes on the substations come as Russia targets Ukraine’s power system ahead of winter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the previous week that every power plant in his country had been damaged in some way by attacks, and called on allies to provide generators and other equipment.
The attacks on facilities reflect a reciprocal campaign whose two sides have stated energy-related motives. On November 6, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was continuing to target Russia’s oil refining sector in response to Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities. In the same statement, he said Ukraine’s power plants, energy networks, heating systems and water supplies were under continued attack. He added that Kyiv was ready to halt its strikes on refineries if Russia stopped attacking energy targets. Days before the Kirishi attack, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said Russian strikes had damaged networks carrying electricity from nuclear power plants to Kyiv and central regions. The ministry said the damage had caused widespread outages.
The Leningrad region has logistical importance beyond the refinery: ABC said it is a major export gateway for grain and oil through Russian ports on the Baltic Sea. That could place the attack in the context of the region’s energy and export infrastructure, without implying that markets recorded a move or a risk premium linked to the incident. ABC reported that infrastructure attacks by both sides had escalated in recent days. It also noted that Russia was targeting Ukraine’s power system as winter approaches. In the context of strikes on the energy sector, Ukrainian company DTEK said three of its power plants had stopped operating after Russian attacks on November 3. That incident provides prior context for the reported attacks on November 9, rather than forming part of that day’s tally.
Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States were scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, November 10, for a two-day session. ABC said security guarantees topped the agenda and that previous rounds had made no tangible progress toward ending the war. The Associated Press reported that the round would be the fourth sponsored by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, following the last round in Geneva in February. Ukraine’s priorities for the talks include halting strikes on energy facilities and critical infrastructure. They also include resuming grain shipments through the Black Sea and expanding prisoner exchanges. The scheduled talks come after an escalation in attacks on energy and transport facilities in recent days.