Ukraine's General Staff reported an overnight strike on Rosneft PJSC's refinery in Ryazan, saying a fire was observed in the area. The announcement coincided with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff reaching Kyiv from Moscow following a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. The Ryazan plant is one of Russia's largest refineries and has been targeted several times over the past year.
Kyiv's military said it also struck an air base at Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia and, within the same area, hit a radar site along with two air-defense missile systems. These claims could not be independently verified. Separately, regional governor Pavel Malkov posted on Telegram that a fire broke out at a facility in the Ryazan region, without naming which one.
State television said Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin pledged the company would keep gasoline supplies steady, citing an interview, while noting it is unclear when that interview was recorded. The Ryazan complex lies approximately 120 kilometers (75 miles) to Moscow's southeast and roughly 850 km to Kyiv's northeast, and at nameplate it can handle 340,000 barrels of crude each day. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently cited the regularity of Ukrainian drone attacks against Russian energy infrastructure as a factor pushing global energy prices higher.
Ukraine says its long-range strikes on Russian energy assets, often far from the front, aim to squeeze the revenues funding the Kremlin's war that began with the full-scale invasion in 2022. Overnight, Russia's Defense Ministry said it destroyed 258 Ukrainian drones across multiple regions and over the Black and Azov Seas. Ukraine's Air Defence wrote on Telegram that Russia sent up 108 drones of different models.
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Both capitals were spared from attacks after Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told their forces to hold off striking the other side's capital during the U.S. envoys' visit. For your budget, the through-line is simple: more hits on refineries and fuel infrastructure can keep pressure on energy prices, which has a way of showing up at the pump and on your utility bill.
