Flames engulfed industrial sites in western Russia overnight as Ukraine conducted a major drone offensive deep into enemy territory for the third consecutive night, targeting oil refineries and chemical plants which support Moscow’s war economy. The operation also involved drones approaching the Russian capital and led to the closure of three major airports.
Russian Telegram channels reported fires at the NS-Oil refinery in Novospasskoye, Ulyanovsk Oblast – some 700 miles from Ukraine’s border – with videos showing thick black smoke rising from processing units. In neighbouring Stavropol Krai, the Lukoil-owned Stavrolen chemical plant, which produces benzene and polyethylene used in military applications, was ablaze, according to footage shared online. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed air defences downed at least three drones heading for the capital, with debris causing minor fires in suburbs.
Russian authorities said they intercepted 100 Ukrainian drones across regions overnight, including six near Moscow and 13 over border areas. The assaults disrupted flights at three major airports, including Vnukovo and Domodedovo.
The apparent strikes align with Ukraine’s summer-long campaign against Russian energy infrastructure and coincide with Kyiv’s use of domestically produced long-range drones to hit military and industrial sites. Russian officials have condemned the operation as “terrorist aggression” and vowed reprisals.
The strikes occurred 48 hours after US President Donald Trump’s condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile test, conducted on October 21 and announced publicly on October 26.
Speaking aboard Air Force One on October 27, Trump said the 15-hour, 8,700-mile flight was “not appropriate” and urged Putin to “focus on ending the war with Ukraine rather than testing missiles”.
He referenced a US nuclear submarine positioned “right off their shores”, adding: “We test missiles all the time.”
Mr Trump’s remarks evoked fears of nuclear brinkmanship, especially after Putin – in military fatigues at a command post – bragged that the Burevestnik was “truly a unique weapon, one that no other country in the world possesses”, and ordered deployment preparations.
The test followed nuclear drills last week, where Putin warned of a “very serious, if not crushing, response” to Ukrainian deep strikes using Western arms. Hawkish analyst Sergei Karaganov called the exercises “a rehearsal for a first strike, intended as punishment or a warning in the event of further aggression against Russia”, according to state television.
Nuclear expert Jeffrey Lewis noted on X: “Russia’s nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestnik isn’t invincible … NATO aircraft could intercept it”, but cautioned it signals “another step in an arms race that offers no victory for either side”.
Overnight into October 29, Russian forces launched drones and missiles at Ukraine’s largest cities, killing at least four people and injuring six in Kharkiv, where a medical centre and residential buildings were hit, according to Ukrainian officials.
Two more were wounded in Kyiv from drone strikes, mayor Vitali Klitschko reported. The Ukrainian Air Force intercepted more than 40 incoming threats, but blackouts and damage occurred across the east and south.
Mr Trump’s October 22 sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft, Russia’s top oil exporters accounting for half of Moscow’s crude sales, aim to compel a ceasefire. The measures bar US dealings and threaten secondary penalties on foreign banks, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who “called on Russia to immediately agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine”.
Lukoil announced it is selling international assets – including refineries in Bulgaria, Romania and the Netherlands – under a grace period until November 21, seeking extensions if needed. Rosneft’s German stakes remain seized by Berlin.
The sanctions target sales to India and China, where the firms supply 60% of New Delhi’s Russian crude, according to economist Shumita Deveshwar of GlobalData TS Lombard. Mr Trump added a 25% tariff on Indian goods imports.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded: “We are offering our product. This product is of strategic importance to many countries. It is competitive, it is attractive. And then it’s up to the countries themselves to decide how attractive it is and how much other alternatives offered can compete with our products.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed Mr Trump’s frontline-freeze ceasefire idea over the weekend, saying the US position on Ukraine had “radically changed”. With US-Russia dialogue frozen and NATO monitoring Moscow’s Oreshnik missile use in Ukraine, the mutual strikes – from Ulyanovsk to Kharkiv – risk broader conflagration.