Ukrainian Drones Strike Samara Refinery and Europe's Largest Fuel Depot

Ukrainian drones struck a refinery and Europe's largest fuel depot, owned by state consortium Transneft, in Russia's Samara region on Friday, according to Telegram channels. The attack targeted the LPDS Samara storage center, which holds over 1.6 million cubic meters of oil. The complex spans more than 200 hectares and receives oil via four pipelines from Siberia, Tatarstan, Orenburg, and Kazakhstan. Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed drone attacks on Samara, while local authorities closed the regional airport. Volgograd governor Andrei Bocharov also reported a large-scale strike on industrial infrastructure, including a refinery and chemical plant. President Vladimir Putin, who recently banned media disclosure of refinery export and processing data, admitted Thursday that such attacks have cost Russia approximately 1% of its GDP. Russian air defenses reportedly shot down 646 fixed-wing drones overnight across 13 regions, Crimea, and the Black and Azov Seas.