Russia burns after huge Ukraine attack as smoke blackens sky | World | News

Russia is burning after huge Ukrainian attacks. Images show the aftermath of a strike overnight on what observers say is the Saratov oil refinery and a hub in Samara belonging to Russia’s largest online retailer. The attack on the refinery is believed to have been at least the fifteenth on the facility since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Saratov region Governor Roman Busargin said “civilian infrastructure” had been damaged in Saratov and the nearby city of Engels, but did not confirm details.

The refinery has an annual processing capacity of 4.8million tonnes. The Wildberries 178,600 square meter facility acts as a distribution centre for the Volga region and central European Russia. The firm has confirmed that the hub had been hit, adding that there were no casualties, The Kyiv Post reports. It comes as the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that Ukraine’s intermediate range strike campaign and “drone dominance” continue to “constrain Russia’s rate of advance and ability to field mechanised vehicles”.

It added: “Russian forces have conducted a few mechanised assaults in isolated areas of the theater in July 2026, but these assaults did not result in meaningful gains.

Experts added that Ukrainian forces continued their long-range strike campaign against oil and gasoline infrastructure in Russia on July 31 and August 1.

The ISW wrote that the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) reported on August 1 that Ukrainian forces struck the Bashneft-UNPZ, Bashneft-Novoil, and Bashneft-Ufanaftokhim oil refineries in Ufa, Republic of Bashkortostan overnight.

Officials also stated that these three oil refineries comprise one of Russia’s largest oil refining clusters with a total refining capacity of over 23million tons of oil per year.

According to the ISW, other recent Ukrainian strikes include: