The attack on Kstovo, a city of about 66,000 in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, located approximately 1,104 km (about 686 miles) from Kyiv, occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
According to HUR sources, the operation involved over 50 domestically produced drones, including the “Bober” and FP-1 models. The target was a rectification column undergoing repairs, responsible for primary crude oil processing, which had remained vulnerable following previous attacks.
Footage circulating on Russian social media shows intense flames and explosions.
The Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez refinery is a critical part of Russia’s energy infrastructure: it supplies the Moscow region (which consumes approximately 30% of Russia’s total oil), processes around 17 million tons of crude oil annually, and produces more than 50 different petroleum products—including automotive, aviation, and diesel fuels, bitumen, paraffin, and more. Its products are also known for supplying the Russian military and defense industry.
On Tuesday, the Kyiv Post reported that drones struck multiple industrial and energy facilities deep inside Russia overnight, causing fires at refineries and petrochemical plants and triggering widespread power outages across several regions, according to Russian officials.
In Volgograd Oblast, a fire broke out at the Frolovskaya power distribution station on Monday evening, November 3, following an alleged drone attack.
In Kursk Oblast, more than 16,000 users across the Rylsky, Glushkov, and Korenovsky districts were left without electricity after local governor Alexander Khinshtein described the incident as an “enemy attack” on the power distribution station.