Russia Fires 453 Drones Overnight as Ukraine Hits Two Major Oil Refineries in Tatarstan and Krasnodar

Since Russia's September 10-11 strikes on the Saratov refinery, an Ozon warehouse and targets in Tula and Kyiv, both countries have kept grinding through nightly exchanges of drones and missiles. The overnight barrage into Sunday, September 13, was one of the largest yet: 453 Russian drones launched at Ukraine, with Ukraine's Air Force claiming 409 shot down or jammed, according to Ukraine's Armed Forces as reported by Euronews and Reform News. Thirteen locations were still hit. In Izyum, in the Kharkiv region, a 26-year-old woman was killed when an explosive device detonated, according to Kharkiv Regional Military Administration head Oleh Syniehubov. Kharkiv city and 15 surrounding settlements were also struck, injuring three people including a 73-year-old woman. In the Sumy region, a 52-year-old man was killed by drone debris while driving home from a fishing trip in the Baturyn community, and two more people were hurt in Konotop when a private house, garage and car were hit, according to Reform News. In Novhorod-Siverskyi, a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man were injured and hospitalized after a Molniya drone strike destroyed a car. Chernihiv region reported one death and three injuries. In the Kyiv region, a logistics warehouse in Boryspil district was struck twice by drones, even after firefighters from Boryspil International Airport had put out the first blaze. Further west, Volyn region governor Roman Romaniuk said Russia launched a mass attack lasting more than four hours, injuring five people and sending debris into an evacuated train in Lutsk, sparking a fire with no injuries. In Odesa, home to Ukraine's main Black Sea port hub, at least nine people were injured in what regional military administration head Serhii Lysak called a "massive" nighttime attack, according to Newsday. That follows a Saturday strike on an Odesa apartment building that killed two people and injured 26, with the upper floors destroyed, Ukrainian officials said. Ukraine hits two major refineries in one night Ukraine's campaign against Russian oil infrastructure escalated in scale. Ukraine's Defense Intelligence agency struck the Slavyansk-ECO refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, Krasnodar Krai, hitting a key oil-processing unit and the tank farm, according to Pravda and the Kyiv Independent. The refinery, run by Sloviansk ECO LLC, processes about 5.2 million metric tons of crude annually and supplies the Russian armed forces, per Ukraine's General Staff. Krasnodar regional authorities confirmed the fire and said falling drone debris damaged a gas pipeline and injured three people, but did not directly address Kyiv's claim about the strike's target. Separately, Ukraine's General Staff reported striking the TANECO refinery in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan, a facility operated by Tatneft that processes more than 16 million metric tons of oil a year. Tatarstan regional head Rustam Minnikhanov's office said two civilians were killed and 12 injured, with the two deaths occurring after a drone hit a tree near their parked car, according to Newsday. Nizhnekamsk mayor Radmir Belyaev confirmed a fire at "one of the city's enterprises." Russia's aviation authority temporarily restricted flights at airports in Nizhnekamsk, Kazan and Bugulma overnight citing flight safety, the Kyiv Independent reported. The strikes are landing on a Russian fuel system already under strain. Russia's oil product exports hit record lows in August, and the country has begun importing fuel from South Korea and India, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Finland-based nonprofit cited by Breitbart via The Associated Press. Fuel imports hit a record 172,000 metric tons in August, more than seven times the previous monthly high, turning a top global fuel exporter into an importer. Zelensky offers to meet Putin, Russia calls it impossible Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Saturday interview that he would travel to the G20 summit in Miami to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines, according to Euronews. Russian officials responded that such a meeting would be "impossible," per Euronews, without providing a detailed explanation for the rejection. Zelensky separately said Russia launched roughly 2,100 drones, 78 missiles and 1,700 bombs against Ukraine over the past week, according to his account, a tally that has not been independently verified against Ukrainian Air Force daily logs. The gas station strikes on Kyiv that began Thursday, September 10, continued into Friday, wounding five people including a rescuer in the Dniprovskyi and Obolonskyi districts, according to The Associated Press as carried by Breitbart. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X that Russia is "systematically attacking places where it knows people will be spending their time," and that the prior day's strike near Pavlohrad shopping malls killed five and wounded 67, prompting a citywide day of mourning. Whether Kyiv authorities extend official warnings against lingering near fuel stations beyond air raid alerts, and whether the Miami G20 sidelines meeting Zelensky proposed ever gets scheduled, remain open questions heading into the fall fighting season.