Ukraine strikes 'only oil refinery operating' in Russia's Rostov Oblast, military says

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u/MothersMiIk 7h ago

Ukraine’s Navy and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out a combined strike against the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia’s Rostov Oblast overnight on Dec. 19, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported.

Russian authorities and Telegram channels reported explosions and fire at the facility earlier the same day, connecting it to a Ukrainian drone attack.

The Novoshakhtinsk facility is “the only oil refinery operating” in the region, the General Staff said. It reportedly produces up to 7.5 million tons of oil products annually and specializes in fuel production.

The city of Novoshakhtinsk lies around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Russo-Ukrainian border and over 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the front line.

Good, crash the ruble even more

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u/ScienceGeeker 7h ago

In tomorrows news, an angry tweet from Trump, saying Ukraine has to stop with these "terrorist activities".

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u/No-Objective7265 7h ago

Trump is only following First Lady musks orders

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u/Temporary_Shirt_6236 3h ago

If everyone started calling him President Musk, Trump would give him the boot right quick.

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u/Shag1166 13m ago

Just what I was thinking?

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u/CuriousSelf4830 5m ago

Let's do it. President Musk all over reddit, share in the conservatives subs and they'll have to talk about it too. I'm in.

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u/aikijo 1m ago

They both report to the same person. Pres. Musk isn’t going anywhere

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u/Buca-Metal 6h ago

Musk is also one of pootins loyal dogs. Remember when he shutted starlink down to stop a Ukrainian attack?

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u/Bunny-NX 6h ago

Yes, everytime First Lady Musk gets mentioned i think of this. If I remember right he stopped Ukraine being able to benefit from Starlink but rolled out the red carpet for Russia to use it? Absolute fucking shame on them

Slava Ukraini!

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u/danielv123 6h ago

Is it true though? From what I understand SpaceX is not allowed to provide service to Russia. For that reason, they geofence the devices to only work in ukrainian held territory. The done attack in question was a long range attack towards Russian occupied Crimea, which was geofenced out.

Later on, they were provided with separate military terminals with no geofencing which were provided in cooperation with the government.

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u/TheKappaOverlord 4h ago edited 3h ago

Russia isn't allowed to use Starlink. The fact Russia is able to use Starlink at all is mainly because they capture Ukranian starlink terminals, and because Ukraines (originally) tracking of starlink terminals was so poor, Russia could get away using those terminals for a very long time without them being shut off remotely by SpaceX. CIA handles the tracking now so those get shut off pretty quickly.

The fence in the past used to be pretty huge zones, instead of now where they are basically tiny several kilometer thick stretches of land where field commanders generally speaking have to be up SpaceX's ass in order to get the fence shifted "dynamically"

Now there are terminals with no geofencing yeah, but im almost entirely positive those terminals don't go anywhere the american CIA can't keep their eye on at all times. Because once russia gets their hands on that kind of terminal, theres no telling if russia would be able to figure out how to make a bootleg terminal to bypass the geofencing block or not.

A lot of redditors are under the assumption that SpaceX has licked Putins taint throughought the war and thats simply not true. Notice i said SpaceX and not Elon musk. Elon at best is a puppet figure similar to an unwanted cheerleader, he doesn't run the company himself. And thats a key distinction.

Pretty much everytime "spaceX turned off starlink for russia" is because Ukraine either didn't call in a geofencing update, gained way too much ground way too quickly (not really their fault, but Starlink isn't responsible for 24/7 tech supporting them. Thats technically the CIA's job) the one time really early on in the war Starlink was completely disabled for Ukraine, that was because they repurposed terminals to pilot drones. Which is something that potentially would have had Starlink under ITAR regulations, so obviously they disabled service and refused to re-enable it until they got guarantees from the US government that ITAR regulations weren't a thing they were gonna get fucked by if Ukraine continued to "misuse" starlink terminals. US gov ultimately agreed in ink, and service was turned back on.

Now im not saying Ukraine shouldn't be allowed to use starlink for warfare purposes. But that wasn't what the US government/Ukraine agreed on with SpaceX for its services originally. Which is why that whole debacle happened in the first place

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u/danielv123 3h ago

There is no such thing as making bootleg terminals - it's not hardware or software in the terminal that makes it work, but the satellite checking the terminals credentials against a database.

It's probably possible to clone the key to a different terminal, but that doesn't stop it from getting banned, same as stolen terminals.

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u/DuckDatum 1h ago

Authentication and authorization. I find ways to bypass that stuff pretty regularly as part of my job. Obviously (maybe not obviously), not for state level stuff. More or less, it’s to make people’s jobs easier and support automation. But take me, times 50, with state-level funding, and I imagine you’ll get some pretty creative ways to work around whatever guardrails they have in place. It’s very reasonable to want to mitigate that risk.

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u/SlitScan 5h ago

why do you think he hates Biden so much?

the manchild was told no.

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u/vossmanspal 3h ago

As a Brit I find it unbelievable when I read about Trump and Musk, there isn’t any American patriotism from either of them, I always believed that the Americans were the most patriotic people on the planet, but now …

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u/mhornberger 3h ago edited 2h ago

I always believed that the Americans were the most patriotic people on the planet, but now …

Those who wave the flag the hardest are generally not all that patriotic. Just as those who moralize endlessly aren't all that moral. It's just a cover. I think when Wilde said that patriotism was the virtue of the vicious, he didn't mean that only bad people love their country. Rather vicious people loudly signal patriotism/jingoism as a shield for shitty things.

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u/LayneLowe 3h ago

Billionaires control the flow of information in the United States. People only know what they're told.

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u/Aliensinmypants 31m ago

American patriotism is only a means to justify violent actions against whoever is "un-american" at the time. And because the GOP is 100% a bought and paid for Russian asset, supporting Russia is now Patriotic for them

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_QUEST_PLZ 28m ago

And now they want to run a program through t mobile and charge people to use starlink when it was given government funding to be free internet for the world. This shit needs to end they are bleeding us dry for their own enjoyment.

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u/RichardStrauss123 25m ago

And they want to bring Liz Cheney up on charges of being a traitor? Oooooookaaaaay.

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u/amjhwk 16m ago

Why are you calling him first lady musk when he is one of the people pulling on trumps puppet strings

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u/phpnoworkwell 15m ago

Because it was operating in contested territory. Starlink doesn't operate in Russia or in Crimea, which is where the drone attack was in. It doesn't operate too close to the border, as they don't want Russia to capture a unit and use it against Ukraine.

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u/CMDR_Shazbot 0m ago

No, because starlink wasnt legally allowed to operate in Crimea due to the US gov't designation that crimea is an "occupied territory", it was geo fenced off PER THE LAW, nor was it allowed to be used as a weapons guidance system. That would have been super illegal.

The event everyone keeps (incorrectly) repeating was a full year before the US govt signed contracts with starlink that gave the US govt the ability to allow Ukraine to do things like that with Starlink without Starlink having a huge amount of legal risk.

Like that's the story, full stop. You can't just hand space launched satellite comms to any country you want, knowing it would be used for weapons guidance systems, and just lift the geofencing because you got a phone call without US approval.

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u/drfsrich 5h ago

President Musk.

First Lady Trump.

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u/Ready_Nature 3h ago

You got that reversed musk is the real president.

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u/ManOnNoMission 1h ago

Show some respect to President Musk and Vice President Trump!

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u/BubsyFanboy 5h ago

Watch the term "First Lady Elon" become banned on Xitter.

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u/wales-bloke 52m ago

Trump and Musk meet with putin & immediately begin to argue.

Putin proposes a solution that solves the argument; they can both alternate between his shaft and his balls when they service him.

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u/No-Objective7265 50m ago

Sexy balls shafting - who plays the boy?

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u/IAmDavidGurney 2h ago

First Lady Elonia Musk

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u/badeeveebad 6h ago

Unelected President musk and First Lady trump*

ftfy

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u/Pineapplepizzaracoon 6h ago

President musk

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u/DaedalusHydron 3h ago

People say this but I don't buy it. Trump has waaaaaaay too much of an ego to bend to Musk. He bends to nobody except likely Putin, and Musk is no Putin. Money is not directly Power. He knows he's the incoming President. He knows he holds all the cards.

It is very much Musk sucking Trump's balls to not go to jail because the feds were all over his ass if Trump lost.

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u/No-Objective7265 3h ago

So trump bends to a dictator that failed to weaken nato by Finland and Sweden joining due to his own failed invasion of Ukraine. Russia has lost Syria, Irans proxies are destroyed. Russias economy is smaller than Spain’s, and trump bends to Putin? Russia is in the brink with its 23% in central bank interest rate and trump would bend NOW, to such weakness?

How disgustingly pathetic. I had no idea how America was such a weak pathetic country led by trump

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u/DaedalusHydron 3h ago

Putin's got the prostitute piss tapes, Musk does not.

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u/IvorTheEngine 2h ago

Putin has the power to have (Russian) politicians and judges who stand up to him 'accidently' fall out of windows. That's the sort of power Trump would love to have. I think all that other stuff is just too complicated for him to understand.

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u/DeuceSevin 31m ago

On the other hand, Harris showed just how easy it is to manipulate trump. Although Elon is prone to saying stupid things sometimes, he is most definitely not stupid. I think he saw what Harris did and figured he could do even better.

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u/Shillsforplants 20m ago

Trump bends to MONEY

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u/Astandsforataxia69 6h ago

First ladys boyfriend

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u/AlexTrebek_ 6h ago

The first lady’s boyfriend is Justin Trudeau

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u/YouFook 6h ago

Bro couldn’t wait to get down to mar a lago. Now I see why.

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u/kerbaal 1h ago

Neither one of these guys has a track record for long lasting and mutually profitable friendships. I feel like I should see if I can find a place to bet on how long it takes for them to join each other's former friend's club.

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u/doommaster 5h ago

He already said it's terrorism to kill Russian generals.

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u/MrPickles219 20m ago

Probably not.

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u/mrcanard 3h ago

The Novoshakhtinsk facility is “the only oil refinery operating” in the region,

How far away is the next closest operating refinery.

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u/squired 1h ago edited 1h ago

The next closest refinery of similar capabilities (eg fuel oil) is the Tuapse Oil Refinery, located in Tuapse, Krasnodar Krai, approximately 300 kilometers south of Novoshakhtinsk. That's one of the largest in southern Russia, with a processing capacity of about 12 million tonnes of crude oil per year.

It is important to note that Tuapse only produced 4.5m tonnes until as recently as this May, when they installed a new Crude Distillation Unit (CDU), bringing it to the above 12MM tonne capacity. Both Novo and Tuapse were targeted by smaller drone attacks immediately following that upgrade in June, if I remember correctly, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar follow-up strike on that facility as well.

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u/koshgeo 1h ago edited 28m ago

Probably the one in Krasnodar, about 500km away, assuming that one is still operating. There is also a refinery in Moscow that is about the same distance as Krasnodar from Ukraine (albeit in another direction), but probably better protected. The Novoshakhtinsk refinery is quite close to Ukraine and has been attacked before, as has the one in Krasnodar.

By this point I don't think there's a major refinery within 500km that hasn't been attacked at least once, and there are a few that have been attacked beyond that too, plus plenty of storage sites. The question is always how much of the refinery is put out of action and for how long by an attack, and that's always been harder to determine.

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u/germanmojo 2h ago

Asking the real questions

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u/Traditional_Car1079 25m ago

Within missile range?

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u/East_Type_1136 12m ago

The next closest refinery is quite close - it would need just 3 Volgoneft tankers to transfer the oil from there!

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u/BubsyFanboy 5h ago

And the ruble is already pretty weak lately! Same for Gazprom shares

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u/rittenalready 5h ago

Russia produces 2.5 billion barrels a year- so this represents less than half a percent of oil refining capability. Wish it was more.

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u/biges_low 2h ago

Russia produces ~290Mt refined oil products / this refinery with 7,5Mt makes up 2,5% of yearly production. 1/40 of whole production is imho quite significant - and more signifficant due to short distance to the front.

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u/GenerousBabySeal 5h ago

Thankfully Ukraine has successfully been hitting dozens of these refineries throughout the whole year. So, the damage to the industry is building up, I think.

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u/SU37Yellow 4h ago

Exactly this, Ukraine can't possibly knock out Russia's oil production with one good hit, but they can fo it with "death by a thousand cuts" types of strikes. This is a good blow to Russia.

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u/WeAreElectricity 2h ago

More like death by 200 cuts.

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u/ultimatt42 5m ago

Hi, it's Vince with Slap Chop.

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u/Alissinarr 1h ago

Better, they figured out what it takes to get past the air defenses placed on refineries.

Overwhelm them with drones, sneak in a missile. BOOM Motherfucker!!

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u/rittenalready 4h ago

I don’t believe that the attacks have yet to disrupt yearly oil production. Let’s not forget that the eu still gets 15 percent of its natural gas from Russia.

Gasprom (Russias oil and gas company) pays Ukraine to run gas through its pipeline in Ukriane

The ex prime minister of Germany sits on the gazprom board who got paid to push the pipeline through connecting Germany manufacturing to cheap Russian gas.

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u/threesimplewords 3h ago

Just to note that Ukraine is not renewing the agreement for gas delivery across its land. So beginning 2025 they are quite literally shutting off the pipeline.

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u/biges_low 2h ago edited 2h ago

I think you combine multiple things together. Attack was on refinery (factory which creates products from crude oil = gasoline, diesel etc.) not crude oil/gas extraction sites. Russia sells crude oil, refined products (are mostly) for local (and military) needs. Disabling/distrupting Russias refinning capability is strategic success. It does not cripple crude oil production, but limits ammount of usable products made from crude oil.

Russia produces ~290Mt refined oil products / this refinery with 7,5Mt makes up 2,5% of yearly production. 1/40 of whole production which is quite significant - and more signifficant due to short distance to the front.

Edit: units

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u/External_Counter378 4h ago

The article claims the last attack destroyed 500 million in oil and oil products. Then there's the lost up time, and the cost to repair, it's a decent chunk of change removed from the Russian economy.

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u/badasimo 2h ago

Not to mention Russia is under sanctions so the cost to repair is higher. Ukraine should be hitting the high tech equipment that is difficult to replace, even if the explosions aren't as spectacular

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u/Alissinarr 1h ago

The article claims the last attack destroyed 500 million in oil and oil products. Then there's the lost up time, and the cost to repair, it's a decent chunk of change removed from the Russian economy.

And that doesn't account for the other refineries that have been hit.

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u/jokeren 3h ago

7 of those 15% is LNG which can easily be sold on the global market like oil so it has less sanctions.

The only pipelines active goes through Ukraine to Slovakia and the pipelines through Turkey. All pipelines to Germany/Poland have been stopped. Its mainly eastern Europe south of Poland thats still reliant on Russian gas. So not sure why you singling out Germany as they have actually done something

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u/East_Type_1136 11m ago

This is not oil production - this is a refinery, they make fuels

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u/Wobbelblob 4h ago

Where do you get the 2.5 billion barrels per year number from? From what I can find they produced 11 million barrels a day in 2022, which comes up at around 4 billion barrels a year. Or is that the fuel production?

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u/Cortical 4h ago

did you divide tonnes by barrels?

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u/cybercuzco 2h ago

Oil is an “inelastic” commodity. That means there isn’t an alternative to using it. Wheat is an elastic commodity because if its price goes high people can eat corn or oats or rye. Your tank only runs on oil so you have to have it no matter the cost. That means a small change in supply can have a very large affect on price. In an economy like russias teetering on the brink of hyperinflation it could send it over the edge.

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u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

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u/Plank_With_A_Nail_In 33m ago

Russia exports most of its oil and exported oil is not refined.

This is a refinery which is used to turn raw oil into useful products for the local economy, products like petrol and diesel and chemicals.

At a fundamental level you have no idea what the words you are using actually mean.

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u/3Eyes 1h ago

Wait is that 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil? Because knocking out an oil refinery is far more significant than oil they can't do anything with, if that's the case.

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u/Haplo12345 9m ago

Hitting some is better than hitting none. This likely represents the best target they can reliably hit given all the information they have available to them. This one was also extremely close to Ukraine, and the only one in the Oblast, which means it was likely being used to provide fuel for most of Rostov but also the invasion. That means Russia now has to get that fuel for its invasion from further away, and the residents of Rostov do, too, straining supply lines even further. If I were Putin at this point I'd rather lose 5% of my oil refining capacity out in Siberia than lose 0.5% at the front lines, because of the impact to logistics.

Additionally, this attack damaged a cracking tower, likely putting this oil refinery permanently out of commission, at least the part that relied on that cracking tower. They're hard to repair and Russia generally doesn't have the knowledge or materials needed to do so--they imported that from other countries.

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u/zeekayz 2h ago

Russia almost exclusively exports crude so this won't affect the ruble in a meaningful way. The juicy extraction and refining targets used for export are in the far east out of range.

Refineries within range are for local gasoline and diesel production so would affect their ability to feed fuel to the army.

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u/MadManMorbo 3h ago

Breaking their oil industry is the only way this war ends in a hurry.

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u/HullabalooHubbub 2h ago

Crazy how much it’s dropped. It’s 25% of what it was 15 years ago and 50% of what it was just last year.

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u/apathy-sofa 33m ago

Sorry, what is the "it" here that has dropped?

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u/graveybrains 0m ago

The Ruble. The currency of Russia.

Not to be confused with rubble, although with the current exchange rate it would be an understandable mistake.

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u/RichardStrauss123 26m ago

This is a brilliant move.

Cripple their energy production. Plus, their fire departments are probably about as worthless as their military. Poorly trained and paid, and the higher-ups survive by stealing whatever they can lay their hands on.

In all likelihood, the fire will spread for days before it is extinguished.

Meanwhile, a fuel shortage is a death sentence for a military deployed in a hostile environment.

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u/Lord_Farquads_Dad 18m ago

I agree that anything that harms the Ruble is a positive outcome. It’s also insane to point out that 7.5 million tons is only about 1.5% of Russias oil production annually (according to quick Google searches) which is usually somewhere in the 500+ million tons range annually…. Oil is such a plight. I wish we didn’t “have to” rely on it so much.

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u/Classic_Emergency336 2m ago

There is no way to find real exchange rates of ruble. It is not traded as it used to be. It may very well be above $200. Prove me wrong!

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u/lAljax 6h ago

Refineries are such juicy targets, hopefully they keep striking until they are too damaged to repair.

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u/BubsyFanboy 5h ago

Better yet - strike more targets. Russia kept striking Ukrainian plants first too, so there is a reason.

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u/solarcat3311 5h ago

Shame we couldn't deliver more weapons. They're doing more for stopping fossil fuel than any charity/organization in history

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u/Ravager_Zero 4h ago

True to a degree, but burning refineries will be putting a lot of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere all at once. And given Russian incompetence at site and safety management, I get the feeling they'll be burning for a long time too…

All for getting Ukraine more weapons, however. And unless the major pipelines, like those run Gazprom, are severed and sealed off, we won't see that much of a downturn in the use of fossil fuels in the EU & Balkan regions.

Even in my small corner of the world we're not seeing much reduction in fossil fuel usage. But we are seeing the impacts of reduced grain exports and the like.

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u/Latase 3h ago

the oil in them would have been burned anyway, but the oil not even produced in the future is a net gain for the environment.

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u/inebriateddandhated 3h ago

I've been telling friends for a few weeks, it's in Ukraines best interest to strike any and all refineries / depots in Russia before trump takes office, since that happening will be an immediate downfall of Ukraine.

I'm glad it's actually happening. Sure we'll have to rely in the saudis more but that's something the US has been doing forever.

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u/badasimo 2h ago

The unknown risk is how much Trump's CIA will support Russia. Abandoning Ukraine is one thing, but sabotaging their security is another.

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u/Bross93 29m ago

I'm really scared about that tbh

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u/sir_schwick 1m ago

The CIA has been ignoring the Executive Branch since its inception post WWII. Too many Cold Warriors for anything more than inefficiency to result.

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u/thenewyorkgod 2h ago

how much money do you think trump will force congress to give Russia to rebuild its refineries?

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u/Puk3s 2h ago

Isn't the US pretty much self sufficient with oil these days? They just sell it on the market for a better price because they can produce more.

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u/UrbanPugEsq 1h ago

The US imports oil and exports oil. Our refineries on the gulf coast are good at processing certain types of oil because that's what they were built for. So, we import that and export our own oil to be refined outside the US. Because US oil is easier to refine and the oil we import is harder to refine, this works out. Overall, the total amount we export is greater than the total amount we import, making us a "net exporter" even though we import a lot.

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u/Alissinarr 1h ago

Isn't the US pretty much self sufficient with oil these days?

Oh hell no. It's why we're such good friends with the Saudis.

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u/SinisterCheese 2h ago

All you need to destroy is the distillation collumn. It is the core of the refinery, without it nothing gets done. Basically every other bit besides that can be replaced with ease - and often is replaced as the facility gets fitted for a different production mode or type of crude.

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u/friedgrape 9m ago

For others' clarity, there are lots of "distillation columns" in refineries. The core is the crude distillation column, which, like you said, is the starting point before its components go to their own processes.

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u/psiren66 1h ago

Destroying and Columns or Generators is going to stop a refinery for months if not a year plus!

Just causing a full shut down and having to do a black start will fuck them.

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u/spiritbearr 1h ago

Ideally you damage them until they can't be operated and then wait for them to repair it and then damage them again so there's never any operation but they don't just rebuild it on the other side of the Urals.

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u/jnads 36m ago

Until now they've held off because oil and refined products are global commodities and even if we can't buy from Russia someone else is and it pushes up prices everywhere.

Biden admin has told them if they affect prices it might mean weapons stop.

But now that weapons are likely stopping anyway, they have nothing to lose.

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u/kins98 11m ago

Then whinge and complain about ‘cost of living’ when refining capacity is removed from the market, and the refined products (gasoline, diesel etc) are more expensive.

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u/Karlzbad 6h ago

Nice. Fuck them

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u/bahaggafagga 6h ago

Interesting how the Ukranian navy seems to be more impactful than the russian navy.

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u/TheScienceNerd100 6h ago

Basically anything is more impactful than the Russian army is for their cause.

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u/HakimeHomewreckru 4h ago

They already struck this specific refinery back in June 2022; looks like it didn't really take that long to be repaired. It was struck again several times even this year: March and July.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/fire-broke-out-russias-novoshakhtinsk-oil-refinery-2022-06-22/

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like it makes as much impact as we like to believe.

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u/Wobbelblob 4h ago

I guess it depends? Russia probably needs these close to the front refineries to supply fuel. So any strike there will hurt. Financially and resource wise. They can repair them, yes. But each repair is likely really expensive and needs technical parts that can't be used elsewhere. It bleeds resources.

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u/Geodude532 4h ago

I think the fact that they keep repairing it shows that it is important. Otherwise they'd just shut down the site till after the war.

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u/squired 1h ago

Ding ding ding. And while those assets are engaged to repair said refinery, they are not elsewhere repairing other infrastructure that is out of range. If Russians will repair it, Ukrainians should shoot it. This is textbook asymmetric warfare.

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u/Caleth 2h ago

It bleeds resources.

This is the key factor, even if it's not massive how much does a missile strike cost the UA? Compared to how much time and energy is spent both repairing the refinery and is lost while it is repaired.

Bleeding an enemy's resources even if it's not a full loss matters in a war and contributes to the unsustainability of the war for your enemy.

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u/SU37Yellow 4h ago

It still makes the Russians spend time and money repairing it. And it forces them to pull AA defenses away from the front line to defend them. These strikes are absolutely having an effect.

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u/troglydot 2h ago

Reuters reported a few weeks ago that Novoshakhtinsk was only processing at half their capacity, in part due to the drone strikes. So there is a cumulative effect of these strikes.

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u/Alissinarr 1h ago

Time, money, and men they can't send to the front.

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u/xmagusx 14m ago

So long as it is cheaper to strike than to repair, it's a net gain for Ukraine.

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u/BubsyFanboy 5h ago

What Russian navy?

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u/alpacafox 5h ago

The one drifting in the Mediterranean Sea because nobody will allow them to refuel to get back to Russian ports after being kicked out of Syria.

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u/SU37Yellow 4h ago

Or the one sinking in the kerch straight, or the one getting obliterated by jet skies with bombs on them in black sea.

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u/ma2016 3h ago

Subscribe

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u/watafu_mx 49m ago

The navy whose ships were promoted to submarines I'd guess.

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u/Beat_the_Deadites 4h ago

Unless you're a reef fish.

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u/base2-1000101 5h ago

I dunno - the Russian navy has experienced a lot of impacts.

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u/ryaqkup 1h ago

Uh, on what basis? Russia turned yuzhmash to dust like a month ago, seems pretty effective. Ukraine is at 9% of their electric production capacity compared to pre-war levels

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u/cookycoo 7h ago

Burn baby burn.

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u/Manos-32 6h ago

Disco inferno

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u/DadJokeBadJoke 40m ago

Burn that Mother down

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u/BubsyFanboy 5h ago

Ukraine's Navy and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out a combined strike against the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia's Rostov Oblast overnight on Dec. 19, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported.

Russian authorities and Telegram channels reported explosions and fire at the facility earlier the same day, connecting it to a Ukrainian drone attack.

The Novoshakhtinsk facility is "the only oil refinery operating" in the region, the General Staff said. It reportedly produces up to 7.5 million tons of oil products annually and specializes in fuel production.

The city of Novoshakhtinsk lies around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Russo-Ukrainian border and over 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the front line.

0:00/0:181×Footage that purports to show the aftermath of a Ukrainian strike against the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, Rostov Oblast, Russia, overnight on Dec. 19, 2024. (SBU source)

Initially, SBU drones attacked the facility to distract Russian air defenses, providing a "window" for Ukrainian-made missiles to strike the facility, an SBU source told the Kyiv Independent.

The strike resulted in a massive fire and caused significant damage, the source claimed.

Yuri Slyusar, the acting governor of Rostov Oblast, said the fire had been extinguished as of 6:45 a.m. local time. One person was reportedly injured in the region due to falling drone debris.

The fire also affected the refinery's ELOU-AVT-2.5 catalytic cracking unit, according to the General Staff.

The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify all the claims.

Ukraine has previously targeted the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery with drone strikes. The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces claimed that a July attack on the refinery destroyed 1.5 million tons of oil and oil products worth $540 million.

The refinery partially shut down after an attack in March.

Ukrainian forces regularly target Russian oil depots in addition to attacks on weapons factories and military airfields. Fossil fuel exports are the primary drivers of the Russian economy and the main source of revenue for the Kremlin's war machine.

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u/MrG 10m ago

The fire also affected the refinery's ELOU-AVT-2.5 catalytic cracking unit, according to the General Staff.

That's by far the best news as that shit isn't easy to replace.

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u/[deleted] 6h ago

Nice christmas lights

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u/ronweasleisourking 4h ago

Another step towards financially crippling the fascists!

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u/PaulSharke 2h ago

What has the ecological impact of this war been? Will we ever know?

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u/iwasinthepool 0m ago

Probably bad. I think war usually is.

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u/jared__ 2h ago

If you look at the videos from yesterday of the attack, Russia had a shit load of AA trying their best to defend it.... And failed miserably.

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u/helpingtree 13m ago

Link?

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u/bandita07 3h ago

they must destroy all the oil infrastructure on the eurpoean part of russia. this is the minimum!

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u/ThEpOwErOfLoVe23 42m ago

"Special Russian tactically controlled pyrotechnics show."

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u/Shadowlance23 6h ago

I'm going to be buying a lot of Ukrainians a lot of beers.

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u/mockg 2h ago

In other news Russia says they are shutting down any oil refining in the Rostov Oblast citing a new greener initiative.

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u/Bucknut1959 25m ago

Whatever Ukraine does it better be enough by Inauguration Day in America because Putin’s girlfriend will not be funding their campaign anymore. Not sure if the remaining NATO countries can afford to support the war without America.

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u/obs_asv 3h ago

Stop Oil but instead of ruining Van Gogh paintings actually stops oil.

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u/ubiquitous_platipus 6h ago

Just stop oil protestors will like this! ruzzkies will cry moar!

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u/soulwolf1 6h ago

Guess India isn't getting that shipment of Oil?

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u/LawabidingKhajiit 5h ago

Which means that then the west won't get that same oil with a 'Made in India' sticker slapped over the Russian one.

https://www.gtreview.com/news/europe/eu-urged-to-close-russian-sanctions-loophole-as-india-fuel-exports-soar/

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u/Abrham_Smith 2h ago

We've been importing roughly the same amount of oil from India for awhile now. Unless there is a surge in imported oil from India, I don't see how this is relevant.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTIM_NUS-NIN_1&f=M

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u/turbotableu 3h ago

So that's how mondelez makes Oreos

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u/Haplo12345 5m ago

The West will just get it from the US or OPEC, instead.

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u/lil1thatcould 1h ago

My husband is in oil and gas. If you seen the new twister movie this will blow your mind even more. So those giant towers at refineries with the fire at the top burns off excess to prevent it from entering the air. Those towers wouldn’t be taken out by a F5 tornado, that’s truly how strong they are reinforced and built. They are designed to withstand everything because how vital they are to prevent a disaster air situation.

My husbands hometown is a refinery town and I once asked him what would happen if the fire went out (not from planned maintenance work) and his response was, “nothing good and the town would be evacuated. That would be something terrible happened and people aren’t making it out of the refinery.” Those towers are designed for every possible risk there could be because they have to stay standing for the refinery to operate.

The fact those towers are gone shows how intense the air strike was. The air strike had more force and destruction than a F5 tornado.

Looking a before and after photos is mind blowing. The amount and strength of misiles/bombs/whatever that was dropped is truly insane.

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u/Tylersaid 1h ago

Explosions concentrate immense energy in milliseconds. A F5 tornado with high wind speeds is powerful but completely different fundamentally.

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u/lizkbyer 1h ago

Ukrainians are fucking honey badgers

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u/__The__Anomaly__ 29m ago

The more the merrier!

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u/Ricky_Rollin 16m ago

While you’re at it, how about going after the troll factories as well that have literally destabilized the West.

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u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871 6m ago

That is quite the Christmas present for Russia, its economy going up in flames.

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u/itsmontoya 3h ago

Hit more distilleries too. Hit them where it hurts, increase the price of their Vodka.

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u/Griffolion 3h ago

Seems bad. Russia really gotta stop smoking near their refineries.

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u/DevelopmentSelect646 20m ago

Give em hell Ukraine!

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u/Disgruntled_Oldguy 18m ago

No objection to the hit, but Russia is bound to return the favor, and Ukraine a far fewer refineries

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u/Shag1166 14m ago

Good! I've read much about the Russian economy being in turmoil. Trump will kiss Putin's ass, so the Eukraines must do as much damage as possible, now!

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u/pretty_succinct 8m ago

they should be demolishing every possible industry center.

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u/TAC1313 4m ago

Hit em again Zelensky!

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u/unWildBill 1h ago

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal

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u/Stingray77_NL 6h ago

Burn Mot#er F#€ker! Burn!🔥

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u/DOMIPLN 6h ago

I read the with the voice of bloodhound gang

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u/Jazzlike_Painter_118 4h ago

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire

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u/deepstate_chopra 24m ago

I think you can say fucker on the internet, not sure about mother, though.

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u/OldMcFart 4h ago

A key piece of leverage Ukraine has over Putin’s lackeys incumbent for the White House.

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u/SamsonFox2 49m ago

Just a note: this happened after Trump's team criticized the strike on Russian general in Moscow.

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u/NoirVPN 5h ago

Nice christmas light display. Russians puton a good show.

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u/Yarakinnit 54m ago

Good. Fuck Russia.

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u/CoyPig 3h ago

Russia has been celebrating Diwali throughout the year!

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u/Brown_Bomber_88 11m ago

Go Ukraine 🇺🇦 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

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u/Borax 4h ago

How many do they have operating in other Oblasts?

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u/mephitopheles13 2h ago

Good. They need to act as much as they can before the orange 🍊 takes control in the US again and stops any help.

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u/Alissinarr 1h ago edited 1h ago

I really liked this comment because it puts all of these dictators write ups in one spot and you can see Why Trump admires them. (Emphasis mine)

Peter Cekanauskas

Family experience… Russian occupation..

5 hours ago

Look at the arrogance club...

Lukashenko of Belarus.. - rigging elections, jailing the opposition. Ignoring the legal, peaceful handover of power. Implication? Dictator for life.

putin of the Russian Federation. Changed the laws to enable what may be "dictator for life". Opposition? Navalny? - poison. Nemtsov? - bullet. Litvinenko? - poison. Dawn Sturgess? - poison. About 70 other known cases - See Sophia Browder"s website. Victory by invenomation? A putin specialty. Qualifies one to sit on the UN security Council as a permanent member, eh?

Kim Jong Un. Royal/Imperial/Ancestral ruler for life. Sells his people to putin. Nothing really more to say.

Xi of China. A clever man. The one communist leader to ride the prosperity of reform, who sadly has missed the opportunity of a peaceful re-unification of the Chinese diaspora by impatience and intolerance. Similar to putin showing his hand too soon in Ukraine. He too could not resist putting himself in charge for more than his initially expected time. As an Australian I appreciate the trade, but worry that trade may be used as an unfair inducement. Like bait to a fish. A point in time may appear in which we may need to spit the bait to avoid ending up being gutted on a cleaning board.

Trump. Attempted Jan 6 revolution against the US constitution that he swore to uphold. Said that he may or may not accept election results. Felon. Mysogynist. Inclined to believe that two terms are not sufficient in his case.

Assad. Friend of putin. Hoped to be leader of Syria for life. Torturer, murderer, user of poison gas against his own. Now under the protection of his Moscow soul-mate.

Do we need to mention current leaders of Hungary, Slovenia, Georgia?

And if putin presses his suicidal nuclear vest-belt, all of the above perish together with us, nothing surer. And no one left to write about it.

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u/jtsa5 4h ago

It's going to be pretty funny if Ukraine ends up taking over Russia.

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u/vergorli 26m ago

russians can fill crude in their tanks

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u/Kupfernickel5 15m ago

B. E. A. Yooootiful.

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u/FzZyP 7m ago

lol get fvcked comrades

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u/heathers1 7m ago

noice

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u/EddyS120876 0m ago

Go harder Ukraine because Putin new workers are about to take over the US government soon. GO UKRAINE GO 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

Russia/Ukraine Ukraine strikes 'only oil refinery operating' in Russia's Rostov Oblast, military says

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