Russia says drones damaged Nizhny Novgorod plant as Ukraine claims refinery hit

Russian authorities said a large drone attack struck an industrial facility in the Nizhny Novgorod region overnight, while Ukrainian monitors said the target was one of Russia's largest oil refineries.

Regional governor Gleb Nikitin said on Telegram that a "massive UAV attack" had caused "significant damage" to an industrial site in the Kstovsky district. He said more than 100 drones had been destroyed and that early information indicated there were no casualties. Emergency crews were working at the scene, he added, warning of temporary power cuts and reduced hot water and heating supplies in parts of the utility networks serving residential buildings.

Telegram channels that monitor the war said the attack hit the Kstovo refinery, also known as the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez plant. According to Lukoil, the site produces diesel and aviation fuel, among other products. The Hindu reported that Kyiv claimed a major refinery was hit, and described the enterprise as near Moscow, while the governor placed it in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The claims could not be independently verified.

Earlier this week, a fire broke out at another refinery in Russia's Samara region after a drone attack, with images and video on social media showing columns of black smoke. Euronews reported that the Samara incident followed reports that Ukraine had paused strikes on Russian refineries under pressure from Washington, which blamed the attacks for rising global diesel prices as it sought to shift blame from its war in Iran.

Ukraine has increased attacks on Russian energy infrastructure this year, targeting refineries, terminals and depots to hit an economic driver of the Kremlin's war effort.

The Nizhny Novgorod attack came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian strikes on Friday night left about 280,000 Ukrainian households without power. In a post on X on Saturday, he said about 200,000 households in Dnipro and the surrounding region and more than 80,000 in the Kyiv region had lost electricity. He said Russian forces hit a combined heat and power plant in Kyiv and four electrical substations in the eastern Dnipro region, among other targets.

Separately, NBC News and The Hindu reported that Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, said the United States had warned Russia of a possible attack in Moscow. Those reports gave no further details.