Ukraine's renewed
attacks on Russian oil refineries add to Moscow's difficulty in addressing
domestic fuel shortages while it ships diesel to international markets under an
export deal with US President Donald Trump.
The Ryazan oil refinery, one of Russia's largest, appeared to have come
under attack as part of a large drone strike overnight on industrial sites in
the city, southeast of Moscow, according to a Reuters video
analysis. If confirmed, it would be
the second refinery to be hit this week following an attack on the Yaroslavl
plant, northeast of Moscow, overnight on Monday, marking the breakdown of a
pause in strikes. Ukraine's strikes
on oil refineries this year forced large amounts of processing capacity in
western Russia offline, causing fuel shortages that meant Moscow had to enforce
fuel export bans from April onwards.
A ban on diesel exports has been lifted in part and the US struck the
deal in October with the Kremlin to resume diesel exports to international
markets ahead of the midterm elections on November 3, which Trump's Republican
Party lost.
The city of Ryazan had
restored power supply earlier on Thursday (5 Nov) as fires at the unnamed
industrial sites were either contained or put out, the local governor said on
social media.