In brief: Russia reported 113 drones over the Leningrad Region early morning on Monday, Nov. 9. Videos indicate that Ukraine targeted the Kirishi refinery, where at least two fires broke out. The strike comes amid a renewed Ukrainian campaign against Russian oil infrastructure.
Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on Russia’s Leningrad Region overnight on Nov. 9, with 113 drones reported and explosions and fires at the Kirishi oil refinery, one of Russia’s largest oil-processing facilities.
Regional Governor Alexander Drozdenko said air defenses had intercepted 113 drones. However, he acknowledged that several drones struck industrial facilities in the city of Kirishi.
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“There are confirmed cases of UAV impacts in the industrial zone of the city of Kirishi,” Drozdenko wrote on Telegram.
Shrapnel also struck an apartment in Kirishi and the roof of a multi-story residential building in Vsevolozhsk, according to the governor. No injuries were reported in Kirishi, although residents of the damaged apartment were evacuated.
Videos filmed by local residents and verified by Russian independent outlet Astra indicate that the attack targeted the Kirishi oil refinery (KINEF). At least two fires broke out at the facility following several powerful explosions, including one at a primary crude oil processing unit.
Owned by Russian oil giant Surgutneftegas, KINEF is Russia’s second-largest oil refinery, with an annual processing capacity of up to 21 million metric tons of crude oil.
The refinery supplies petroleum products across northwestern Russia, including St. Petersburg and Pulkovo Airport. Its output includes gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, bitumen, liquefied petroleum gas, and petrochemical products.
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KINEF has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drones in 2025 and 2026. Following an Aug. 30 attack, the refinery suspended all processing after two primary crude oil processing units were damaged.
The latest strike comes amid a renewed Ukrainian campaign against Russian oil infrastructure following a nearly two-week pause in refinery attacks in October, which coincided with diplomatic pressure from US President Donald Trump to halt strikes on Russian energy facilities.
Ukraine resumed the attacks on Oct. 30, when drones struck Rosneft’s Novokuybyshevsk refinery in the Samara Region, followed a day later by a strike on Bashneft’s Novoil refinery in Ufa.
On Nov. 1, drones targeted Lukoil’s NORSI refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, while the following day, Ukrainian forces struck Transneft’s major Samara oil pumping station, triggering a massive fire that continued burning for several days.
Further attacks hit Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery on Nov. 5, the Afipsky refinery in the Krasnodar Region on Nov. 6, and the Saratov refinery on Nov. 7.
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