Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign struck the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refinery in Bashkortostan again overnight, Ukrainian outlet Babel reported, as part of a systematic effort to cripple Russian refining capacity rather than isolated raids. Bashkortostan head Radiy Khabirov has previously confirmed strikes on the plant, Russia’s 10th-largest, according to the Moscow Times. Babel’s report of a parallel hit on a Wildberries warehouse in Bashkortostan’s Chishmy district remains unconfirmed; Ukraine’s dozens of strikes on Wildberries facilities this year have concentrated in regions including Tver, Voronezh and Samara, targeting what Kyiv says is the retailer’s role supplying Russian forces with drone parts and equipment.
Russia responded with 133 Shahed-type and decoy drones overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said, of which 111 were shot down or suppressed, with impacts at 15 sites and debris at 16 more, according to UNN. Port infrastructure in Odesa region’s Izmail district was hit, along with sites in Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, where a morning glide-bomb strike wounded a resident and damaged homes.
The exchange illustrates a widening asymmetry: while Ukraine degrades Russian refining and logistics capacity, Moscow is scaling up ballistic missile use precisely as Kyiv’s interceptor stocks collapse. President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN that Ukraine has only 1% of the Patriot interceptors it needs, warning that Russia now launches twice as many ballistic missiles per month as before, while Ukraine’s supply has dropped 2.5-fold since 2025 — a gap he called critical heading into winter.
