Russia suffers unexpected headache from attacks on oil refineries

Russian workers are quitting their jobs at oil refineries en masse over security concerns as a spate of Ukrainian drone attacks target President Vladimir Putin’s energy infrastructure, according to a report.

A former employee of the Kuibyshev refinery, one of the largest oil industry companies in the Samara region and owned by Rosneft, the country’s largest oil producer, said he and many others resigned after the facility was attacked by Ukrainian drones in late March.

The Kuibyshev refinery halted all production after it was damaged in the attack, Reuters reported at the time, noting that around 14 percent of Russia’s refining capacity had been shut down by drone strikes.

Ukraine has attacked Russian energy infrastructure facilities to target Putin’s oil industry, the cornerstone of his country’s economy. Moscow relies on its oil exports and energy industry, which account for around 30 percent of the country’s budget revenue and are crucial to financing the war in Ukraine. Newsweek The Russian Foreign Ministry emailed for comment.

The former employee told Russian news agency Vot Tak that at least seven chemical analysis laboratory technicians resigned after the attack. The release said it found that the refinery placed about 50 ads in April – mostly for engineers or technical support staff – to recruit new employees.

Vot Tak noted that scores of employees have also resigned at the Slavyansk oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region, which was damaged in a Ukrainian drone strike late last month, forcing authorities to halt some operations.

“People all over the plant have also left the plant, it is no longer safe to work there,” a current employee at the Slavyansk oil refinery told the news agency.

Vot Tak found a large number of job advertisements at the plant in April. Of the more than 120 new job openings, half were for technical support.

Kiev has stepped up its attacks on Russian refineries this year, hampering gasoline production. Olha Stefanishyna, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister, said in March that Russian oil refineries were legitimate military targets.

In March, Vasyl Malyuk, the head of Ukraine’s security service, said that the government agency was behind all attacks on Russian oil hubs and that they would continue. The agency estimates that it has carried out at least 13 successful attacks on Russian oil refineries so far during the war.

On Thursday morning, a drone hit the Neftekhim Salavat oil refinery in the Republic of Bashkortostan, nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the border with Ukraine – the most far-reaching drone attack on a Russian target in the war so far.

Sources in the Ukrainian security service told the online news agency Ukrainska Pravda that they were behind the attack.

Drones also struck Oil refinery A fire and explosions occurred in Russia’s Kaluga region late Thursday. No injuries were reported and the fire has since been extinguished.

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