Ukrainian forces launched a sweeping overnight drone offensive against Russian oil and energy facilities on Friday, striking refineries and fuel depots across multiple regions in an effort to degrade Russia's capacity to finance its war. The Ukrainian military's General Staff confirmed hits on major oil refineries in Novokuibyshevsk and Syzran, two industrial cities in Russia's Samara region, located roughly 900 kilometres east of Moscow. Fires were also ignited at the Vysotsk oil terminal in Russia's northwestern Leningrad region — which surrounds St. Petersburg and borders Finland — and at a refinery in the southern Krasnodar region. In Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukraine's Security Service reported strikes on a fuel storage depot, while the commander of Ukraine's drone forces, Robert Brovdi, claimed that recent attacks on Russian petroleum logistics had collectively reduced daily oil shipments by around 880,000 barrels, a figure that could not be independently verified.

The scale of the campaign reflects a deliberate strategic shift. Kyiv has intensified its targeting of Russian oil infrastructure in recent weeks, striking facilities sometimes thousands of kilometres from the front line. Ukraine views Russia's energy revenues as a direct enabler of Moscow's military operations, and the attacks carry added urgency in the wake of a decision by the United States Treasury to extend a sanctions waiver on Russian oil. The 30-day general licence, renewed on Friday, allows countries to continue purchasing sanctioned Russian crude loaded onto tankers as of that date — a move that Washington says is aimed at stabilising global energy markets strained by conflict in the Middle East, but which Ukrainian officials have sharply criticised. Brovdi pointedly mocked the extension, writing