Russia's crude oil production fell in May to its lowest level in a year, with Ukraine's record-setting drone campaign against oil infrastructure playing a major role, Bloomberg reported. The decline, now running for half a year, cuts into the mineral extraction tax — the main channel through which oil fills the federal budget that finances the war, the Russian-language Moscow Times noted.
Russia averaged 9.009 million barrels of crude a day in May, OPEC's monthly report shows. Daily output last peaked in November at 9.38 million barrels and has shrunk every month since, losing roughly 370,000 barrels, the Moscow Times wrote. The May figure sits 690,000 barrels a day short of what the OPEC+ deal obliges Russia to pump, Bloomberg calculated. The data excludes condensate, and April's level was revised slightly lower.
The Ukrainian strikes have been disabling oil storage and transportation capacity. That shortage, combined with underinvestment, reduces the volume of crude Russia extracts. Bloomberg observed that while the latest monthly drop marks a slowdown against previous months, it will likely keep weighing on oil markets. Oil prices stay elevated amid the continuing Middle East conflict, and Russia ranks among the world's three biggest crude producers whose barrels bypass the Strait of Hormuz, shut in practice since the Iran war erupted.
Ukraine sharply intensified its May campaign against Russian oil sites, logging at least 31 strikes on refineries, seaborne export terminals, and pipelines, Bloomberg counted — the highest monthly count since the full-scale invasion, as Kyiv works to cut the Kremlin's income from elevated crude prices. Because most strikes targeted fuel-producing facilities, Russian refining collapsed to its 2009 level in May. So far this month, Russia's refining runs have fallen to a two-decade low, EA Analytics, part of consultancy Energy Aspects, estimates.
The gasoline shortage behind the fuel crisis in a number of Russian regions led producers to redirect more crude to export markets. The Baltic and Black Sea ports damaged in the first two months of spring have been repaired. Seaborne crude exports averaged 3.64 million barrels a day over the four weeks ending 31 May, Bloomberg's tanker-tracking data show. That compares with 3.17 million barrels daily over the four-week stretch to 17 April, when Ukrainian forces actively bombed ports and export terminals.
The Moscow Times notes that the export shift allows companies and intermediaries who retain significant sums from sales abroad to raise their incomes. The federal budget that pays for the war, though, is filled above all by the mineral extraction tax, so falling production hits government revenue directly.
Key developments on June 11:
Ukrainian drones forced Rosneft's Kuybyshevsky oil refinery in Samara Oblast, Russia, to halt oil processing on 10 June, Reuters reported. The strike puts all three plants in the Rosneft Samara refining hub out of full operation at the same time.
Reuters cited two industry sources to confirm that processing stopped at both AVT-4 and AVT-5 after the strike. Each unit has a nominal processing capacity of about 73,000 barrels of crude oil (10,000 metric tons) per day. The hits caused damage and subsequent fires at both.
Samara Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev claimed a massive overnight drone attack injured three people and caused "damage to several industrial facilities."
An earlier report on 10 June described fires at the Kuybyshevsky refinery after the strike.
Kuybyshevsky's 2024 crude oil throughput was 4.7 million tons, equal to 94,400 barrels a day, Reuters reported. That year's output included 0.8 million tons of gasoline, 1.4 million tons of diesel, and 1.3 million tons of fuel oil. Nominal capacity stands at 7 million tons per year. The plant is one of the largest oil refining facilities in the Volga region. It also supplies fuel for the Russian army.
The Kuybyshevsky plant was also previously hit in January 2026, August 2025, and in March 2024. The earlier strikes damaged equipment and forced production cycles to stop.
The same night, Ukrainian forces also struck the VNIIR-Progress plant in Cheboksary, Chuvashia, which was previously hit on 5 May. The factory makes "Kometa" antennas that protect Russian drones from electronic warfare. It also makes satellite receivers for GLONASS, GPS, and Galileo systems. Ukraine's General Staff said such modules are used in Shahed-type drones, Iskander and Kalibr missiles, and aerial bombs.
Meanwhile, today saw a strike on the Afipsky refinery in Krasnodar Krai.
By May 2026, Ukrainian drones had taken six of ten Russian refineries hit during that month offline. Russian media counted 24 of Russia's 33 largest refineries struck since 2022. Only the Omsk and Angarsk plants east of the Urals remain untouched so far.
Russia's gasoline crisis has spread to 25 of its own regions and six occupied Ukrainian ones, the Russian-language Moscow Times reported on 10 June. Six days earlier, the count stood at 15. Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries hit a wartime monthly record in May 2026, dropping Russian refining loading well below the start of the year.
The Russian Telegram channel 7×7 counted at least 25 Russian regions facing gasoline shortages and supply disruptions as of 10 June. Less than a week earlier, on 4 June, the number stood at 15. Restrictions also apply across six Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions: Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Bloomberg counted 38 Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries from January through May 2026. May alone saw 16 — the highest monthly figure of the war. According to OilX, Russian refinery loading has dropped 14% since the start of the year and stays roughly 20% below pre-war levels.
Regional officials have responded unevenly. The acting governor of Belgorod Oblast, Alexander Shuvaev, acknowledged the shortage. Krasnodar Krai governor Veniamin Kondratyev called the situation "artificial hype." Residents publicly mocked the claim under his Telegram post, which was republished on a local channel. Gas stations in Krasnodar Krai have begun closing due to a shortage.
Fuel prices have spiked in occupied Crimea. On 10 June, AI-92 cost about $1.14 per liter, against $0.96 in Moscow. AI-95 traded near $1.25, up from $1.04 in the Russian capital. Resellers were offering fuel at $1.81-$2.08 per liter — about 50% above official Crimean prices.
On 8 June, Russia's Energy Ministry announced the creation of a task force to manage the fuel crisis, citing "growing enemy air attacks."
Sevastopol's Russian-installed governor said on 10 June that planned distribution of rationed petrol had been delayed, Reuters wrote on 11 June. Mikhail Razvozhayev claimed oil tanker trucks could not bring fuel into the city, following recent Ukrainian strikes on supply routes. Crimea, occupied by Russia in 2014, introduced fuel rationing last month due to shortages on the peninsula.
"Unfortunately, oil tanker trucks were unable to come to the city tonight," Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram.
He said priority for refueling on 11 June would go to public transport, utilities, emergency vehicles, and government vehicles.
"I am addressing everyone: there is no point in lining up at... the gas stations tomorrow," he added late on 10 June.
Existing rationing coupons would be canceled and new ones issued today.
Razvozhayev later claimed over two dozen Ukrainian drones were downed in the early hours of Thursday in a fresh attack on Sevastopol. The city is Crimea's second-largest and home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
On the same day, a major drone attack hit Russia's Volga region of Samara, more than 900 km from the front line, forcing state-owned oil giant Rosneft to halt processing at its Kuibyshevsky refinery.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday evening that Ukraine’s recently launched mid-range strike campaign against Russian logistics, including large-scale strikes on supply and fuel trucks, had proved its worth.
"In recent months, we are especially grateful for the mid-strikes: Russian military logistics throughout the entire depth of the temporarily occupied territory are now within reach of Ukrainian drones," he said. "Our impact reaches Russia’s border regions as well. The enemy feels it, and we will continue to expand it."
Ukrainian drones set a major oil depot ablaze near the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk overnight on 7-8 June 2026, in a strike confirmed by Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS). Residents reported a string of blasts and heavy smoke over the Grushovaya storage site, which feeds Russia's busiest oil-export port. Ukrainian forces hit two more targets in southern Russia the same night.
The strike came before dawn. Residents of Novorossiysk, in Russia's Krasnodar Krai, reported about 50 blasts, then heavy smoke over the Grushovaya oil depot. Operators of the SBS's 1st Separate Center, working with Special Operations Forces (SSO) and other units, confirmed the hit. Ukraine's General Staff also confirmed the strike and said a fire broke out, with damage still being assessed. Russian officials claimed no one was hurt.
NASA's FIRMS satellite service detected abnormal heat at the site at 02:48 on 8 June. Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ began reporting the attack around 3 a.m., posting photos and videos of fire in the mountains above the city. OSINT Telegram channel Falcon insight pinpointed the location. Russian news Telegram channel ASTRA confirmed the burning tank farm from eyewitness footage shot about 11 km away.
A fuel storage depot is burning in Novorossiysk, Russia, after a drone strike hit the tank farm overnight
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 8, 2026
Novorossiysk is one of Russia's most strategically important Black Sea ports, handling a significant share of Russian oil exportsSupernova pic.twitter.com/d2ab4SSuH0
The Grushovaya site is a transshipment depot for the Sheskharis terminal. Chernomortransneft runs it, under Russia's state pipeline monopoly Transneft. It sits in the Grushovaya Balka tract beyond the Markotkh Ridge, about 12 km from Novorossiysk. The tank farm holds more than 1.2 million m³ of fuel across dozens of tanks, on a site of about 212 hectares. SBS called it one of the largest oil-product stores in the Caucasus.
Novorossiysk is southern Russia's biggest oil-export hub, the Moscow Times reported. The port ships up to 700,000 barrels a day, and its terminals moved 19.8 million tonnes of oil products in 2025. That trade feeds Russia's budget, which bankrolls the war on Ukraine. The port has become a recurring target in Ukraine's strikes on Russia's Black Sea oil logistics.
The same night, Ukraine's General Staff said its forces struck the Krasny Yar oil-pumping station in Volgograd Oblast, where a fire broke out. Volgograd governor Andrei Bocharov claimed the blaze came from falling drone debris at the Zhirnovsk pumping station and was quickly put out, the Moscow Times reported. Ukrainian forces also hit a Russian radar station near Kabardinka in Krasnodar Krai, according to the General Staff.
Ukrainian forces have hit this infrastructure before. Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi reported that drones struck the Grushovaya depot on 23 May 2026, when fire spread across much of the site. Strike drones also hit the Sheskharis terminal on 6 April, damaging oil-metering systems and shut-off valves at the loading berths. ASTRA said the wider complex was attacked in early March, early April, and on 22 May.
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