Ukrainian drones hit Yaroslavl oil refinery, 2 workers hurt

As of 8:13 a.m. ET, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026

Ukrainian drones damaged an oil refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl overnight into Tuesday, Nov. 3, injuring two workers, the region's governor said, as Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses had downed 856 Ukrainian drones in one night.

Yaroslavl Gov. Mikhail Yevrayev said on Telegram that electronic warfare and air defense forces had repelled a "large-scale" attack on the refinery by 124 drones. He said refinery infrastructure was damaged, emergency services were working to put out a fire, and two employees suffered shrapnel wounds and were taken to a hospital.

Debris from downed drones also shattered windows in several apartment buildings and private homes and damaged residents' cars, Yevrayev said. He did not describe the extent of the damage at the refinery. Authorities had closed the road leading out of Yaroslavl toward Moscow during the attack and reopened it Tuesday morning, he said.

The refinery is Slavneft-YANOS, one of Russia's largest, which is jointly owned by Rosneft and Gazprom and can process about 300,000 barrels of crude a day, The Moscow Times reported.

Russia's drone claim

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Telegram that air defenses had destroyed 856 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight over 13 Russian regions, the Moscow region, occupied Crimea and the Black Sea, listing the Yaroslavl region among them. The Moscow Times reported that more than half of the drones targeted Moscow and the surrounding region, citing officials. GROKsiNEWS.com could not independently verify the figure, and Ukraine did not publish a count of drones it launched.

Power cuts in Crimea

In occupied Sevastopol, Russian-installed Gov. Mikhail Razvozhaev said overnight strikes had again hit energy infrastructure outside the city, and that power supplies were so limited that the city could not keep to its rotating outage schedule. The Moscow Times reported that at least five cities in Crimea introduced emergency power cuts.

The attacks came the same night Russia launched a large drone and missile barrage at Ukraine's power grid. Ukraine's Energy Ministry reported damage to energy facilities in 10 regions.