Ukraine confirms strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, defying calls to ease attacks amid soaring fuel prices

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include Ukrainian confirmation of the attack and comments from Russian officials.

Ukrainian drones struck a Lukoil oil refinery in the Russian city of Kstovo and an oil terminal in Leningrad Oblast overnight on April 5.

Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, confirmed the attack on April 5.

The attack comes as Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that foreign allies have asked Kyiv to pause drone attacks on Russian oil refineries as the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran drives up fuel prices worldwide.

Russian officials in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Leningrad Oblast said that Ukrainian drones caused damage to refining facilities and an oil pipeline.

“Last night, air defense forces repelled an attack by 30 enemy drones. As a result of the falling debris, two facilities of (the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez refinery) were damaged,” Gleb Nikitin, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, said on April 5, according to Russian Telegram channel ASTRA.

Alexander Drozdenko, governor of Leningrad Oblast, said on his Telegram channel that an oil pipeline near the Primorsk port was damaged by drone debris.

Photos and videos posted on social media appear to show large flames emanating from the refinery. A large explosion was seen lighting up the night sky over what is purported to be the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez refinery in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.

The Lukoil refinery, which has previously been the target of Ukrainian attacks, is located around 800 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. The Primorsk oil terminal has also come under Ukrainian attack in recent weeks, with strikes on several consecutive nights at the end of March.

Ukraine regularly strikes military and industrial targets in Russia with long-range drones, with oil refineries serving as frequent targets. Kyiv considers these facilities to be valid military targets, as they provide fuel and funding for the Kremlin’s war machine.

The U.S. sanctioned Lukoil and another Russian energy company, Rosneft, in October 2025, freezing Lukoil’s U.S.-based assets and threatening secondary penalties for foreign entities engaging with them. The sanctions, the first such measures imposed by the second Trump administration, were designed to pressure Moscow into peace talks in Ukraine, as fossil fuel revenues play a key role in sustaining Russia’s war efforts.

Despite the sanctions, following the start of its war in Iran, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a temporary license on March 12 to allow countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea, in an effort to stabilize global energy prices.

Oil prices have skyrocketed amid the escalating war in Iran, which is in its sixth week. Energy facilities in the Middle East have been targeted throughout the conflict, while Iran has also shut down the Strait of Hormuz — a key waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply transits.