In April, Ukraine struck Russian oil refineries, terminals and military facilities
In April 2026, the Ukrainian Defence Forces struck a number of Russian military and economic infrastructure targets. These included targets in the temporarily occupied Crimea, as well as in Perm, Ufa, Orsk and Chelyabinsk.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously stated that since the start of the year, Russia had lost at least $7 billion due to Ukrainian strikes on the oil industry and refining sector.
“By the end of April, our long-range sanctions had reached a new level in three areas: the reduction of Russian oil profits, the scope and intensity of the sanctions. It is important that not only is the target itself hit, as defined by the combat mission, but the facility’s downtime is also increased, or at least there is a significant reduction in its operations,” said the head of state.
According to the Ministry of Defence, in April the Defence Forces struck at least 14 targets in Russia’s oil refining and fuel logistics sectors. These include the Bashneft-Novoyl refinery in Ufa, Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez in Kstovo, the Tuapse refinery, the Novokuybyshevsk refinery, the Syzran refinery, the Yaroslavl refinery, ‘Orsknefteorgsintez’ and ‘Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez’.
The Tuapse Oil Refinery in the Krasnodar Krai was struck three times in April. During the first strike, the AVT-12 primary processing unit and RVS-10000 tanks were damaged, resulting in a fire. Following a second strike, the destruction of 24 tanks and damage to four others was confirmed. A fire broke out again after the third strike.
Port terminals and transport infrastructure were also hit. In particular, damage was recorded at the Primorsk port, the Ust-Luga Oil terminal, the RPK-Vysotsk Lukoil-2 oil loading terminal, the Tikhoretsk oil pumping station and the Sheskharis oil terminal in Novorossiysk.
On 10 April, the Defence Forces struck oil production infrastructure in the open sea for the first time. The ice-resistant fixed platforms LSP-2 at the Graifer field and LSP-1 at the Korchagin field in the Caspian Sea were damaged.
On 29 April, a unit of the Ukrainian Navy struck the sanctioned vessel ‘MARQUISE’ in the Black Sea. Two maritime drones struck the stern in the area of the propeller and rudder assembly and the engine room. The tanker, flying the Cameroonian flag, is subject to sanctions imposed by Ukraine, the EU, the UK, Switzerland, New Zealand and Canada.
In April, two enterprises belonging to Russia’s military-industrial complex were also struck. On 1 April, the Strel factory in Suzemka, Bryansk Oblast, which manufactures components for cruise missiles, came under attack. On 19 April, the Ukrainian Navy struck the Atlant Aero production facility in Taganrog with Neptune missiles.
Separately in April, strikes were recorded against ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the Coast Guard. On 19 April, the ‘Primary’ unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence disabled the large landing ships ‘Yamal’ and ‘Nikolai Filchenkov’ in Sevastopol Bay. Strikes on these ships were repeated on 20 and 26 April by the SBU.
On 5 April, two strike UAVs struck the Project 11356R frigate ‘Burevestnik’, which carries ‘Kalibr’ cruise missiles. On 26 April, as part of Operation Alpha, the SBU simultaneously struck a radio-technical reconnaissance vessel, the Black Sea Fleet’s training centre, and the headquarters of the air defence forces’ radio-technical reconnaissance unit.
There are also reports of a MiG-31 being struck at Belbek airfield and damage to the airfield’s technical and maintenance unit. On 22 April, damage to the conning tower of an FSB Border Service vessel in Sevastopol was confirmed.
On 30 April, the Ukrainian Navy destroyed the FSB patrol boat ‘Sobol’ and the anti-sabotage boat ‘Grachonok’ in the Kerch Strait area. Both vessels were guarding the Kerch Bridge and carrying out anti-sabotage tasks.
On 25 April, at the Shagol airfield in the Chelyabinsk region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Unmanned Systems Forces struck two Su-57 fighters, one Su-34 fighter-bomber and another aircraft of an unidentified type. The targets were located approximately 1,700 kilometres from Ukraine’s state border.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian Defence Forces have more than doubled the range of their deep strikes against targets deep within Russian territory.
