Ukraine struck two Russian refineries and other key oil targets overnight into Saturday, officials said, just hours after the United States granted Moscow another waiver for selling its sanctioned oil.
Kiev's drone forces commander, Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, stated on Telegram that Ukraine had hit the Novokuybyshevsk and Syzran oil refineries in Russia's Samara region, the Tikhoretsk oil terminal in the Krasnodar region, the port of Vysotsk on the Baltic Sea, as well as an oil depot in occupied Crimea's Sevastopol.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not acknowledge the attacks, reporting only that the country's air defense had intercepted 258 Ukrainian drones overnight.
However, Russian regional authorities reported the strikes or their aftermath. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, governor of the Samara region, said "attacks were recorded" against what he called "industrial facilities" and that emergency services were on site.
The Emergency Response Headquarters of the Krasnodar region stated that a fire had broken out at the oil depot in Tikhoretsk and that "224 personnel and 56 pieces of equipment" were involved in efforts to bring it under control.
Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the Leningrad region where the port of Vysotsk is located, said on Saturday morning that a drone attack had caused a fire at the port, which he stated had since been extinguished.
Brovdi made no secret that the strikes were in response to the renewed U.S. waiver, which allows the delivery and sale of sanctioned Russian crude oil until May 16, accusing the U.S. of "cynicism" and warning that this action comes at the cost of "Ukrainian lives."
The U.S. Treasury issued the relief on Friday as the Trump administration desperately tries to ease pressure on global oil prices caused by the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran.