Russia hits Kharkiv; shuts down largest refinery in Ryazan
The war in Ukraine escalates with heavy strikes on the civilian postal infrastructure in Kharkiv and a massive asymmetric drone counter-offensive that paralyzes the oil giant “Rosneft“.
Russian attack on postal terminal near Kharkiv
In the past few hours, Russian forces have struck again at the logistical and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine by attacking a terminal of the private postal operator “Nova Poshta“ in Korotich, a suburb of Kharkiv. According to information from the regional governor Oleg Sinegubov, quoted According to the Ukrainian media outlet Gwara Media (gwaramedia.com), the attack was carried out with drones and missiles.
This is the second strike on the same logistics center this month. The previous massive attack on July 19 killed four employees and injured 20 others, the RBC-Ukraine news agency (newsukraine.rbc.ua) recalls. Local authorities and the postal operator's management confirmed that alternative delivery routes are being activated, and affected customers will be paid full compensation for the destroyed shipments.
Ryazan refinery shuts down after drone strike
In an asymmetric response to Russian pressure, Ukrainian forces have carried out a large-scale drone operation deep inside Russian territory. Reuters (reuters.com) reported that the Ryazan oil refinery - owned by state-owned giant “Rosneft“ – has completely stopped processing crude oil. The shutdown of the facilities is a direct consequence of a massive nighttime drone attack.
According to two independent sources in the oil industry, quoted by the specialized financial portal Global Banking & Finance (globalbankingandfinance.com), the refinery will remain completely closed for at least two weeks. The technological restart of the main and secondary installations requires considerable time for calibration and restoration of product quality.
The governor of the Ryazan region Pavel Malkov announced on his Telegram channel that 45 drones were intercepted over the region, but the falling debris caused serious fires in the industrial zone. According to Al Jazeera (aljazeera.com), in addition to the oil refinery, the attack also affected a large logistics center of the online retailer “Wildberries“, which has necessitated an emergency evacuation of personnel.
Economic consequences for Moscow
The Ryazan Refinery is among the most key energy facilities in the Russian Federation. It processes about 13.1 million tons of crude oil per year, which is about 5% of the country's total refining capacity. Its shutdown is a serious blow to the domestic fuel market at a time when Russia is trying to cope with local shortages of gasoline and diesel. Despite the physical shutdown of production, the refinery has continued to offer available volumes of fuel to the St. Petersburg International Commodity Exchange to fulfill current contracts.