Ukrainian strike sets fire to oil refinery in southern Russia [View all]

Source: ABC News/AP

June 28, 2026, 6:17 AM


KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine kept up its heavy drone assault on Russia, setting fire to a major oil refinery in the south and killing at least two people, Russian authorities said Sunday. Kyiv's campaign of massive long-range strikes has choked Russian fuel supplies and military deliveries, in what authorities call an attempt to bring the Kremlin to the negotiating table.

Debris from downed Ukrainian drones sparked a blaze at the refinery in Slavyansk-na-Kubani, a town in Russia's Krasnodar region, east of occupied Crimea, according to Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev. The falling debris killed one person in Slavyansk and injured another in a nearby village, according to regional authorities.

Photos and videos circulating on Russian social media showed a thick cloud of smoke over what users said was the Slavyansk refinery. The Associated Press was not immediately able to verify the images.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine was behind the strike on Slavyansk. He also claimed that a second Russian refinery, in the Yaroslavl region around 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Ukrainian border, was hit during the nighttime strikes. “Tonight, our ‘long-range sanctions’ reached two oil refineries in Russia," Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Each (strike) means a reduction in the resources that fuel the Russian war machine, and another step toward peace."

Read more: https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/ukrainian-strike-sets-fire-oil-refinery-southern-russia-134286603