At least five explosions were heard over the city of Novoshakhtinsk during the drone attack, residents said. Drones<\/a> hit the local refinery, causing a large fire. <\/p>\n The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims at the time of publication. <\/p>\n Footage of the alleged refinery strike shows smoke and flames rising from the attack site. <\/p>\n The video purportedly shows a drone attack on the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on Aug. 21, 2025. (Astra)<\/p>\n The Novoshakhtinsk refinery reportedly produces up to 7.5 million tons of oil<\/a> products annually and specializes in fuel production.<\/p>\n Kyiv has targeted the facility in previous attacks. In December 2024, Ukraine’s Navy and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out a combined strike<\/a> against the refinery that resulted in a large-scale fire and significant damage. <\/p>\n Ukraine’s General Staff said after the attack that the Novoshakhtinsk facility is the only oil refinery operating in Russia’s Rostov Oblast. <\/p>\n The Ukrainian military previously claimed that a July 2024 attack on the refinery destroyed<\/a> 1.5 million tons of oil and oil products worth $540 million. The refinery also partially shut down<\/a> after an attack in March.<\/p>\n Ukraine regularly launches long-range drone attacks on industrial and military facilities in Russia. Oil refineries<\/a>, which fund and fuel Moscow’s war machine, are frequent targets of these strikes.<\/p>\n Three Russian refineries have cut or suspended operations this month due to damage sustained from Ukrainian drone attacks, according to media reports. Bloomberg reported that a Rosneft facility<\/a> in Saratov Oblast halted oil intake after a strike on Aug. 10.<\/p>\n Russia’s Ryazan refinery also decreased its production by half<\/a> while the Novokuibyshevsk refinery halted production completely on Aug. 2, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n