Ukrainian drones struck the Afipsky oil refinery in Russia's Krasnodar Krai overnight on 11 June, sparking a fire later extinguished, according to the Krasnodar Krai operational headquarters. The southern Russian plant, repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian strikes, supplies fuel to the Russian military.

A blaze at one of southern Russia's largest refineries

The Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ posted footage from local witnesses showing air defense fire and a blaze. The attack started after midnight, with residents reporting drone overflights and explosions at intervals of a few minutes. 

Krasnodar Krai authorities claimed drone "debris" fell in the village of Afipsky and set the refinery on fire — Moscow's standard framing for Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy targets. The fire was out by 07:32 Moscow time, the operational headquarters later stated. Russian authorities reported no casualties at the plant itself.

The plant runs two primary oil distillation units with capacities of 9,786 and 8,829 tons per day. It is export-oriented and does not currently produce gasoline or diesel for Russia's domestic market. Combined throughput at the Afipsky plant and the affiliated Krasnodar refinery reached 7.2 million tons in 2024. Another 3 million tons were processed in the first half of 2025.

Third strike on Afipsky in 2026 amid wider drone campaign

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 330 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight, the Moscow Times reported. According to the ministry, drones were spotted over Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod, Oryol, Smolensk, Kaluga, Tula, Tver, Vladimir, and Moscow oblasts, as well as Krasnodar Krai and occupied Crimea. Russian aviation regulator Rosaviatsia restricted operations at airports in Tambov, Krasnodar, Sochi, Gelendzhik, and Zhukovsky outside Moscow.

The 11 June raid was the third attack on the Afipsky refinery this year, following hits on 21 January and 14 March. During the March hit, drones damaged the AT-22/4 primary oil processing unit at Afipsky — the plant's refining starting point. Satellite imagery had previously confirmed structural damage from a November 2025 drone attack.

Russia has begun moving gasoline to its frontline units in occupied Ukraine in convoys of civilian cars, the Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi reported. Soldiers filmed themselves loading jerrycans into ordinary trunks, an improvised workaround after Ukrainian drone strikes made fuel tankers too risky to run. Russian forces are also disguising army trucks as civilian vehicles along the supply route to occupied Crimea.

Soldiers filmed the fuel run themselves

A video on the Exilenova+ Telegram channel showed Russians describing a convoy of passenger cars assembled to carry one metric ton of gasoline, Militarnyi reported. A man off-camera says the cars left the city of Kizilyurt in Dagestan, Russia, on the local head's orders, with the fuel destined for Russian units in occupied Tokmak, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The footage shows jerrycans filling the trunks:

Besides the fuel, the drivers carried 1.5 million rubles ($20,900) to buy another batch of gasoline. Fuel keeps Russian frontline positions running: generators power electronic-warfare systems, charge batteries for reconnaissance and strike drones, and run communications gear in dugouts and observation posts.

Disguised trucks and a strained supply line

Russian forces have also begun disguising army trucks as civilian transport because of Ukrainian drone attacks deep in the rear. In northern Crimea, monitors spotted a freshly painted blue Ural truck driven by a man in civilian clothes, still carrying military plates, its oversized body posing as a dump truck.

Explore further

ISW: The strikes will likely cascade into deeper disruption across Russia’s rear supply network

Why Russia is improvising

Ukraine's Defense Forces have intensified drone strikes on logistics trucks and fuel tankers on the roads from Russia to occupied Crimea. The attacks have already forced the occupiers to limit cargo traffic through the occupied part of Kherson Oblast toward the peninsula, and Russia has closed stretches of its own land corridor to keep them clear of strike drones.