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A drone attack damaged Russia's Novoshakhtinsk refinery overnight and forced it to temporarily suspend operations, Rostov region Governor Yuri Slyusar said Friday, while a separate drone strike on another refinery in Perm killed a person.
The strikes followed talks at U.N. headquarters in New York on a potential energy ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow.
The Novoshakhtinsk refinery sells fuel mainly for export and has an annual capacity of 5 million metric tons of oil. Ukraine recently struck two other major Russian refineries in Moscow and Yaroslavl.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the recent strikes targeting oil refineries in Russia in a statement on X.
"I thank our warriors for the daily results in applying Ukraine’s long-range sanctions. Over this past day, two oil refineries were hit, in Bashkortostan and the Samara region. There were also hits in the Black Sea. We are returning the war to where it came from. We are bringing peace closer for Ukraine. I am grateful to all the units involved for their accuracy," he said.
Slyusar said air defense units destroyed about 50 drones over the Rostov region overnight.
"Last night, while repelling an air attack on the Rostov region, about 50 UAVs were destroyed in the cities of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky and Novoshakhtinsk and in six districts of the region: Millerovsky, Tarasovsky, Verkhnedonskoy, Chertkovsky, Kamensky and Krasnosulinsky," Slyusar wrote on Telegram.
"As a result of the air attack, the Novoshakhtinsk Petroleum Products Plant was damaged. There are no casualties. The enterprise has temporarily suspended operations," he said.
"No information on casualties or destruction on the ground has been received. It will be clarified," Slyusar added.
In the Perm region, Governor Dmitry Makhonin said air defenses were repelling a large drone attack.
"A massive attack by enemy drones is underway on the territory of the region. Since early morning, air defense forces and mobile fire groups have been repelling the attack. There has been a strike on an industrial facility," Makhonin wrote on Telegram.
Makhonin later said the attack had ended. "Air defense forces and mobile fire groups shot down 39 UAVs. A man died of shrapnel wounds during the UAV attack. I express sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased," he said.
"The Rospotrebnadzor office for Perm Krai is monitoring air quality. According to preliminary data, no excess levels of pollutants have been recorded. There is no threat to residents," Makhonin said.
He also urged residents to stay away from wreckage.
"I also remind you that approaching the debris of downed UAVs is dangerous, it may threaten life and health. If you find fragments, call 112," he said.
Makhonin did not name the facility. Ukrainian monitoring channels, citing eyewitnesses, said overnight it may have been the Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez refinery, one of Russia's largest. Eyewitness video showed a large column of gray smoke rising over the site.
Ukrainian forces have struck the Perm plant before.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he had discussed efforts to end the four-year-old war with U.S. President Donald Trump, including a potential bilateral ceasefire on energy-related targets.
"We are ready for any kind of format of energy ceasefire" if Russia agrees to "not attack our energy system," Zelenskyy told journalists on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Zelenskyy said he did not know Moscow's position, voicing hope that the "American side will find a way to bring them to any kind of negotiations."
He called his meeting with Trump "positive and productive," writing on X that "both the US and Ukraine want to see this senseless Russian war ended before winter."
Trump said last week that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other's energy facilities. Ukrainian officials later said a truce Trump announced Sept. 14 was an unfinalized U.S. framework rather than a formal accord.
Trump urged Zelenskyy in a phone call Sunday to halt strikes on Russian refineries, citing rising fuel prices, the Financial Times (FT) reported.
"Diesel, diesel... diesel" was the main thrust of Trump's message, a senior Ukrainian official on the call told the newspaper.
A second senior Ukrainian official said Trump voiced acute concern over surging diesel costs ahead of the November midterm elections.
"Russia has unfortunately lost control of its diesel oil industry due to its war with Ukraine," Trump later wrote on Truth Social. He said numerous refineries had been destroyed and remain "out of commission," adding that the war "must be ended" because "the whole world suffers."
Zelenskyy confirmed the call on Telegram.
"We just spoke with President Trump. An important conversation, and many things were discussed. We have arranged a meeting in New York, and this meeting can change a lot," he said.
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