Nikitin did not name the facility, saying only that it sustained "significant damage" and that there were no casualties. He warned that restoration work could bring "temporary power outages and reduced hot water and heating parameters on individual sections of the utility networks supplying residential buildings."
Monitoring Telegram channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ reported that the target was Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez, one of Russia's largest refineries. According to Exilenova+, initial footage suggested the fire broke out near the AVT-6 and AVT-5 units and the visbreaking unit or the 35/11-600 unit. Supernova+ said the exact location of the damage and the extent of the impact on production capacity remained unknown.
Residents of Kstovo said they heard explosions overnight.
Russia's Defense Ministry reported destroying 235 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over 17 Russian regions, including the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez has repeatedly been targeted by drone raids this year. In August the refinery suspended operations after several processing units and plant-wide facilities were damaged in drone attacks, Reuters reported. The following month the plant operated at a quarter of its nominal capacity, according to Reuters.
In recent weeks Donald Trump has several times demanded that Ukraine stop strikes on Russian refineries, asserting that they drive up fuel prices. On October 29 The Wall Street Journal reported that Kyiv had suspended the attacks after pressure from Washington, yet the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in the Samara region was attacked that same night.