For the fifth time this fall: Ukrainian drones attack Rosneft’s Saratov refinery
11 November 10:08
On the night and in the morning of November 11, Ukrainian armed forces drones attacked the Saratov region. Rosneft’s oil refinery in Saratov came under attack. This is the fifth attack on the enterprise since the beginning of the fall and the seventh since 2025, according to "Komersant Ukrainian", citing Russian propaganda media.
The design capacity of the Saratov refinery is about 140,000 barrels of oil per day, and it is one of the most important suppliers of gasoline and diesel fuel for the European part of Russia. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that the refinery is “involved in meeting the needs” of the Russian Armed Forces.
The Ukrainian drone raid began around 1 a.m. Rosaviatsiya announced the closure of the Saratov airport at 1:39 a.m. local time and lifted the restrictions three hours later. At 1:53 a.m., the governor of Saratov region, Roman Busargin, wrote on his telegram channel about the danger of UAVs, and then reported on “damage to civilian infrastructure.” According to him, as a result of the UAV attack, “windows were smashed in several houses in the Zavodsky district,” and a woman was injured. The head of the region did not report on the damage to the refinery.
Local residents said that about 5-7 explosions were heard at night over Saratov and Engels (where a military airfield is located). The flash was visible in the southwest of Saratov, and sirens were heard in the cities. During the night, monitoring channels published photos and videos that allegedly showed a fire and smoke in the area of the Saratov oil refinery.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that overnight, air defense forces intercepted eight Ukrainian drones in the sky over Saratov region. A total of 37 UAVs were shot down in eight regions and over the Black Sea.
Around nine o’clock in the morning, a second drone attack took place in Saratov. Rosaviatsia reported the second closure of the Saratov airport at eight o’clock in the morning. There were also allegedly hits at the military airfield in Engels.
The previous strike on the Saratov refinery took place on the night of November 3. As a result of an attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces drones, a fire broke out in the area of the AVT-6 installation. Another UAV tried to hit the pentane-hexane fraction isomerization unit, but was prevented by an anti-drone net. Prior to that, the plant was attacked on October 16, 20 and September 16.
