Ukraine has resumed drone strikes on Russian oil refineries after a pause of about two weeks, with three refinery targets reported since Friday. The renewed campaign comes despite reported US pressure to halt such strikes ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections.

Three targets since Friday

The Novokuibyshevsk refinery in the Volga region, part of Rosneft's Samara group, was targeted on Friday, in what was reported as the first Ukrainian strike on a Russian refinery since 15 October. During the weekend, Ukrainian drones hit a Rosneft refinery in Bashkortostan and Lukoil's Kstovo refinery in Nizhny Novgorod, where the governor reported a massive drone attack and significant damage to an industrial facility. On Monday, Bloomberg-analysed satellite imagery pointed to a fresh heat anomaly that could mean fires at the Samara crude oil pumping station, although that reading alone does not confirm a new strike.

US pressure, and Kyiv's answer

US President Donald Trump has pressed Ukraine to halt refinery strikes, and reports said the White House, including senior adviser Jared Kushner, had sought a 30-day pause. Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent that Kyiv had never agreed to such a suspension. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not directly acknowledge the refinery attacks, but said Ukrainian forces had targeted a defence industry facility in Russia's Rostov region.

The wider energy exchange

Zelenskyy also said Russian attacks had targeted four Ukrainian regions overnight, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of households, with Kyiv facing outages of eight to ten hours. Ukraine's air force said it had shot down 371 of 433 long-range Russian drones launched since Saturday evening, while Russia's defence ministry said it had downed 235 Ukrainian drones overnight. Energy targets remain central to the war as it approaches its fifth year.

Sources: OilPrice, 2 November 2026; The Guardian via CSR Journal; RocketNews.