Refinery on Fire in Ufa After Drone Attack

Drones attacked the Russian city of Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, overnight on 31 October. A fire broke out at the Bashneft-Novoil oil refinery. The strike is part of Ukraine's ongoing campaign against Russian oil refining during Russia's war against Ukraine.

What may be burning

Ukrainska Pravda cites the news outlet ASTRA and the monitoring channel Exilenova+. After analysing eyewitness photographs, ASTRA's open-source intelligence (OSINT) analyst suggested that the refinery's L-35 catalytic reforming unit is on fire.

This unit is one of the key elements of oil refining. It produces high-octane gasoline components, as well as the hydrogen needed to purify fuel.

Exilenova+ reports three separate fire sites on the grounds of what are likely two attacked refineries in Ufa. There is currently no independent confirmation of this information.

Earlier attacks

The day before, a refinery in Novokuibyshevsk, in Russia's Samara region, also burned after a drone attack.

This month, envoys of US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, reportedly threatened during talks with the Ukrainian team to stop providing Ukraine with intelligence because of strikes on Russian refineries.