On the night of May 31, the Ukrainian Armed Forces executed a series of highly coordinated, long-range drone strikes targeting critical Russian energy and military infrastructure. According to an official statement by the General Staff of the AFU, the operations successfully hit the Saratov Oil Refinery, the Lazarevo oil dispatch station in the Kirov region, and several other strategic military facilities deep inside Russian territory. This massive strike campaign represents a calculated effort to cripple Russia’s military logistics and diminish the economic resources fueling its ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
The Saratov Oil Refinery, owned by Russia’s state oil giant Rosneft, is one of the largest refinery hubs in the Volga region. With an annual processing capacity of approximately 7 million tons of crude oil, the refinery plays a vital role in producing gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel. A significant portion of these petroleum products is directly allocated to support Russian military operations. The confirmed large-scale fire at the refinery is expected to disrupt supply chains, creating immediate tactical challenges for Russian forces relying on consistent fuel deliveries at the front lines.
Furthermore, the attack targeted the Lazarevo linear production and dispatch station in the Kirov region. This facility is a crucial junction on the Surgut-Gorky-Polotsk main pipeline, which handles massive volumes of crude oil transport. Striking an asset located hundreds of kilometers away from the Ukrainian border underscores the expanding operational reach of Ukraine’s domestic drone capabilities. Simultaneously, Ukrainian forces struck a major fuel depot in Matveev Kurgan, Rostov region, and destroyed drone workshops, command posts, and concentration zones of Russian manpower in the occupied Donetsk and Belgorod regions.
In addition to the fresh strikes, the General Staff confirmed earlier successful hits on three fuel reservoirs near the Feodosia marine oil terminal in occupied Crimea and a gas storage facility near Yenakiieve. By systematically targeting both deep-rear refineries and local fuel depots near the front lines, Ukraine is successfully choking Russia’s military machine. This multi-layered strategy of asymmetric attrition reduces Russia’s tactical mobility, limits its offensive capabilities, and forces Moscow to redirect scarce air defense assets to protect civilian economic infrastructure far from the battlefield.