Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian energy and logistics infrastructure reached a new peak this week as a strike on the Lukoil NORSI refinery left all major facilities operated by Russia’s second-largest gasoline producer offline, while the world’s largest container shipping company halted operations at a key Black Sea port.
The Ukrainian General Staff confirmed on August 26 that long-range drones struck the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez (NORSI) plant in Kostovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, sparking a large fire at the facility. Regional Governor Gleb Nikitin confirmed damage to an industrial installation, and Ukrainian Special Operations Forces working with the Unmanned Systems Forces later identified the target. NORSI is Russia’s second-largest gasoline producer and fourth-largest refinery by capacity, capable of processing approximately 15 million metric tons of crude oil per year, equivalent to roughly 320,000 barrels per day.
The NORSI strike completed a devastating sequence that has now shut down every major Lukoil refinery in Russia. The Volgograd refinery was hit on July 31, forcing it offline. The Perm refinery followed on August 21 after drone impacts ignited fires and damaged key processing units. With NORSI halted, Lukoil’s entire refining network has been effectively paralyzed, raising urgent questions about Russia’s domestic fuel supply heading into autumn. A Kazakh oil refinery has already agreed to process Russian crude and send 70% of its output back to Russia to cover the shortfall.
Wildberries and e-commerce targeted
Simultaneously, Ukrainian forces struck a Wildberries logistics hub in Kotovsk, Tambov Oblast, setting the site ablaze and completely destroying the facility. Tambov Oblast Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov confirmed the attack, saying a “massive drone attack” sparked the fire and that workers had been evacuated before the strikes hit. Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, had already been targeted on August 16 when Ukrainian drones hit the company’s main logistics center in Moscow Oblast.
The attacks on Wildberries followed a week of strikes on its competitor Ozon, whose logistics centers were hit in Samara Oblast on August 22, in Orenburg on August 23, and in Krasnodar on August 24 alongside a rocket fuel production facility and a MiG-29 fighter jet. Together, the strikes represent an escalating campaign against Russia’s e-commerce and logistics backbone, mirroring the systematic destruction of oil refining capacity across the country.
MSC cuts Novorossiysk service
The economic fallout extended to international shipping. MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world’s largest container line with a fleet exceeding 7 million TEU, suspended all new bookings to and from Novorossiysk after its vessel MSC ULSAN III was struck by a drone while sailing toward the port. Bloomberg reviewed a notice MSC sent to customers advising them to contact the company’s Russian office about alternative arrangements for imports and exports.
MSC said it was monitoring security conditions and that regular weekly service through Novorossiysk would remain suspended. The company continues to operate through other Russian ports, including St. Petersburg, where an employee confirmed to Bloomberg that Novorossiysk operations were currently halted. The suspension marks the most significant commercial shipping disruption at the port since the start of the war, as Novorossiysk handles a substantial share of Russia’s remaining seaborne trade with non-sanctioning countries.
The Novorossiysk attack was part of a broader overnight wave that also struck occupied Luhansk, where a large explosion erupted followed by a fire, and disrupted electricity in Crimea’s Bakhchysarai district and Simferopol for about an hour. Explosions were also reported in Crimea’s Saky district and near the city of Yevpatoriya, according to pro-Ukrainian monitoring channel Crimean Wind.
Strategic economic pressure mounts
The NORSI strike is particularly significant because the plant processes roughly 5% of Russia’s total crude oil output. Earlier in August, Ukrainian drones attacked nearly a third of Russia’s major oil refineries in a single night, while the Orsknefteorgsintez refinery has been fully shut down following earlier Ukrainian strikes. The cumulative effect has been a sharp tightening of Russia’s fuel market, with widespread gasoline shortages reported across multiple regions during the summer months.
The expansion of Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign reflects a strategic shift toward crippling Russia’s economic infrastructure rather than only military targets. By targeting e-commerce logistics, oil refining, and international shipping simultaneously, Kyiv is applying pressure across multiple sectors of the Russian economy at once, forcing Moscow to divert air defense resources to protect an ever-widening array of critical facilities stretching from Tambov to Nizhny Novgorod.
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