Ukraine's General Staff says two major Russian oil refineries halted after Ukrainian strikes
Ukraine's General Staff confirmed on 4 September that two large Russian oil refining enterprises — LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez in Kstovo and the NOVATEK-Ust-Luga complex in Leningrad Oblast — have stopped operating after being hit on 26 August and 1 September respectively. The General Staff said both facilities supply the needs of the Russian armed forces.
Key points
- General Staff confirmed the stoppages in a single 4 September announcement
- LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, stopped work after being struck on 26 August
- NOVATEK-Ust-Luga complex in Slobidka, Leningrad Oblast, stopped work after being struck on 1 September
- Kstovo refinery has a capacity of about 17 million tonnes of oil per year; Reuters described it as the fourth-largest Russian refinery
- At NOVATEK-Ust-Luga, pipelines between the oil pumping station and reservoirs were damaged, causing an oil spill of about 200 square metres
- The strike also hit a primary gas condensate processing unit and two hydrocracking unit columns; a pipeline fire in the reservoir group spilled oil products across 250 square metres
- Ukraine's military intelligence publicly attributed the 1 September strike on NOVATEK-Ust-Luga to Ukrainian drones; the General Staff said both enterprises support Russian armed forces
Why it matters
The General Staff's confirmation links two distinct strikes — on 26 August against Kstovo and on 1 September against Ust-Luga — into a single operational picture of damage to Russian oil refining. The Kstovo plant is among Russia's largest, with capacity of roughly 17 million tonnes a year, and Reuters reported that all of Lukoil's main Russian refineries were offline as of late August, indicating a sustained pressure on Russian fuel supply. Because both facilities are described as supporting the Russian armed forces, the strikes have direct wartime significance beyond the civilian fuel market.
What happened
On 4 September, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that two major Russian oil refining enterprises had stopped operating following Ukrainian strikes. The first, LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, was struck on 26 August; Reuters reported separately that the refinery had halted operations after the attack. The second, the NOVATEK-Ust-Luga complex in Slobidka, Leningrad Oblast, was struck on 1 September. According to the General Staff and Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), Ukrainian drones hit the Ust-Luga complex, damaging pipelines between the oil pumping station and reservoirs (spilling oil products across roughly 200 square metres), a primary gas condensate processing unit, two columns of the hydrocracking unit, and causing a pipeline fire in the reservoir group with a separate 250-square-metre oil product spill. The General Staff said both enterprises are involved in supplying the needs of the Russian armed forces. Reuters previously reported stoppages at Lukoil's Perm refinery after a 21 August attack and at the Volgograd refinery, which had halted oil processing on 31 July; exact timelines for resuming work at the affected Lukoil refineries were not known at the time of reporting.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian outlets uniformly centre the General Staff as the confirming authority and frame the stoppages as the result of strikes by Ukraine's Defence Forces. Coverage consistently notes that both enterprises serve the needs of the Russian armed forces, linking the operational impact directly to the war effort. Outlets also highlight specific damage details — pipeline ruptures, hits on hydrocracking columns, the condensate processing unit, and the scale of oil spills — to underline the magnitude of the disruption.
Where reporting differs
The General Staff's statement gives the date of the LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez strike as '26 August 2026', whereas several other sources cite the date as 26 August without specifying a year. All sources agree the strike occurred on 26 August; the discrepancy is whether the General Staff's wording added an explicit year.
Background
The two strikes were carried out on different dates — 26 August against the Kstovo refinery and 1 September against the NOVATEK-Ust-Luga complex — but the General Staff grouped them into a single 4 September announcement. The Kstovo refinery produces gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, lubricants, and other petroleum products. Damage at Ust-Luga hit pipelines between the oil pumping station and reservoirs, a primary gas condensate processing unit, two hydrocracking unit columns, and caused pipeline fires in the reservoir group. Reuters also reported earlier stoppages at Lukoil's Perm refinery (after a 21 August attack) and Volgograd refinery (oil processing halted on 31 July).