Ukraine war: Kyiv attacks leave Russia’s oil processing capacity down 30%

Refinery strikes disrupt operations

Reuters reported that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries have reduced refining capacity by about 30 per cent since late October, citing two industry sources. Strikes disrupted operations or caused emergencies at nine of the country’s 35 major refineries over the past week.

The affected plants have combined daily nameplate capacity of about 300,000 metric tons, or 2.2 million barrels, the sources said. Russia’s total primary refining capacity is about 930,000 tons per day.

Fire reported near Baltic port

A drone attack caused a fire in the port area of Ust-Luga in northwestern Russia, regional governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said, citing preliminary information. He said a power station was also cut off.

Drozdenko said 146 drones were shot down over the Leningrad region, which is home to a major oil refinery and St. Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin’s hometown.

Peace talks resume in Abu Dhabi

Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Abu Dhabi as part of a renewed US effort to end the war. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner took part in the talks.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was “a lot” of work to do after the first day. A US official claimed Moscow and Kyiv were showing some flexibility on a possible territorial exchange ahead of the first serious peace talks since February.

Trump has said the war was close to being settled and that ending it might involve all of Europe. Latvia and Lithuania also warned people in several regions to seek shelter from threats posed by unidentified drones entering their airspace from Russia or Belarus.