Fire at Yaroslavl refinery after drone attack leaves two employees injured

A fire broke out at the oil refinery in Yaroslavl on the night of 2–3 November 2026. Regional Governor Mikhail Yevrayev reported damaged infrastructure and two injured employees following a drone attack that he described as Ukrainian. BTA carried the statement via Reuters, while TASS specified that the injured employees had been admitted to hospital with shrapnel wounds. Flank had found no independent confirmation of Ukrainian responsibility at the time of publication. This is a developing story and further information may be added.

What is being reported about the damage and drone numbers

Fire crews are working at the site, Yevrayev said, as quoted by BTA. Media reports identify the affected plant as Slavneft-YANOS. According to Ukrainska Pravda, Astra established the location of the fire by analysing photographs and videos sent in by readers.

The governor reports 124 drones and action by air defences and electronic warfare systems. However, different outlets give different scopes for that figure: TASS links it to the attack on the refinery, Babel to drones heading towards the region, and Meduza to downed drones that attacked the city. It therefore cannot be treated as a verified number of hits or interceptions.

According to Yevrayev, quoted by Meduza, windows in residential buildings were also broken and cars damaged. He attributes the damage to debris from downed drones. That explanation does not establish how the damage at the refinery itself was caused.

The refinery’s capacity and the unknowns surrounding production

The Kyiv Independent, Babel and Meduza put Slavneft-YANOS’s capacity at around 15 million tonnes of oil a year and rank the plant among Russia’s largest refineries. According to the Kyiv Independent and Babel, it produces petrol, diesel and aviation fuel. However, the stated capacity is not equivalent to either actual annual throughput or production lost as a result of the fire.

The facility has been attacked before. The Kyiv Independent quotes the Ukrainian General Staff as saying that a strike on 17 September damaged the AVT-3 crude oil processing unit. This is an official Ukrainian claim, not an independently established technical assessment. There is no information indicating that the unit has been hit again.

In Flank’s assessment, the significance of the latest attack will depend on whether key processing units have been shut down and how long it will take to restore them. The specific units affected, the extent of the damage and the plant’s operating status have not yet been established. The fire and the officially reported damage do not, in themselves, prove any disruption to supplies or fuel shortages.