Ukrainian forces strike major oil refinery in northern Russia

Ukraine’s Defence Forces have struck the Yaroslavl oil refinery, one of the largest oil-processing plants in northern Russia, causing a fire, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The General Staff said Ukrainian military units carried out a series of strikes against Russian forces and military assets both inside the Russian Federation and in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories on April 25 and during the night of April 26.

The Yaroslavl refinery is a strategically important enterprise and one of the key facilities in Russia's oil refining industry.

The body added the refinery has an annual processing capacity of about 15 million tonnes of oil, producing petrol, diesel fuel, and aviation fuel, all of which are considered critical to Russian military logistics.

The extent of the damage caused by the strike is still being assessed.

In addition to the refinery attack, Ukrainian forces reportedly struck a Kasta-2E1 radar station in Melitopol, in the Zaporizhzhia region, on 24 April, as well as a Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system in Mariupol, in the Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian military said assessments of enemy losses and the extent of the damage are ongoing.