Ukrainian drones attacked a refinery in Kuybyshev, Russia. The fire should have put her out of business

A Russian oil refinery in Kuybyshev was reportedly shut down a day after a Ukrainian drone attack in the Samara region. The Russian authorities deny this and claim that they managed to destroy all the enemy planes, despite the fact that there was a large fire in the premises of the oil company. The Astra Telegram channel believes that a drone operation is behind the devastating fire, while local authorities have not commented on the incident. This is the twelfth attack on a Russian refinery in the last three weeks, despite Washington asking Kiev not to attack Russian oil companies.

According to the daily Ukrinform, there was a fundamental suspension of the production process in the Kuybyshev refinery, as the AVT-4 technical unit was damaged. The company is unable to produce fuel, and some insiders fear that this will cause diesel and gasoline prices to rise.

The attack caused a fire at a refinery in the Samara region, which specializes in the production of motor fuel, but there were no injuries, according to local authorities. Ukraine has been attacking Russian oil facilities more and more recently, despite Washington asking Kiev to stop doing so, fearing that the attacks could drive up global oil prices and provoke Moscow to retaliate, according to the Financial Times.

The representative of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhaylo Podolyak, denied the information about the American request on the broadcast of the Russian station Dožď and at the same time said that no one who has been defending Ukraine against Russian military aggression for two years can dictate terms.

According to information from the British newspaper, the American presidential administration has repeatedly turned to the Ukrainian secret service SBU and the Ukrainian military intelligence HUR with a request to stop the attacks.

Despite Western sanctions, Russia remains one of the main energy exporters. At the same time, oil prices on world markets rose this year and climbed to 85 dollars per barrel. As a result, fuel prices are rising, and this is in a situation where US President Joe Biden is running for another term, the FT noted.

“Nothing scares a sitting American president as much as a rise in fuel prices during an election year,” former White House energy adviser Bob McNally told the paper. Gasoline prices in the US have already risen by almost 15 percent this year, according to the FT.

The Kuybyshev refinery is one of the largest oil industry enterprises in Russia’s Samara region. The plant has been part of the Rosneft oil company since May 2007 and specializes in the production of motor fuels, including gasoline and diesel, as well as liquefied gases and sulfur.