Drone strikes hit Ilsky refinery in Russia's Krasnodar region, killing an unspecified number

Krasnodar region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said the attack struck the Seversky district. He said there were fatalities but did not specify how many. One injured person was hospitalized in serious condition at a district hospital.

Kondratyev reported fires at two enterprises in the Seversky district without naming them. Debris also damaged a residential building, he said.

ASTRA, which examined footage filmed by witnesses, reported that the Ilsky refinery in the settlement of the same name, about 50 kilometers from Krasnodar, was hit and was burning. The plant is one of the leading oil refining facilities in southern Russia, with a capacity of about 6.6 million tons of oil a year, and supplies products to the Russian army. The Insider confirmed the fire using NASA FIRMS thermal anomaly maps.

Ukrainian monitoring channels named the Afipsky refinery, also in the Seversky district, as the second enterprise attacked. There is no confirmation of this: NASA FIRMS thermal anomaly maps recorded no anomalies on the territory of the Afipsky refinery. According to a count by Vot Tak, this is the 16th recorded attack on the Ilsky and Afipsky plants.

The attack on the Krasnodar region began around midnight, with local residents reporting explosions and air defense activity. The Insider noted that the Ilsky refinery has been attacked repeatedly, including on August 8.

In the Rostov region, Governor Yuri Slyusar said five people were hurt. One person was wounded in Taganrog and four others, including a child, in Azov, where drones fell on residential buildings. Apartment buildings and private houses, a school, a palace of culture and cars were damaged. According to the governor, more than 30 drones were shot down over the region.

Monitoring channels preliminarily reported an attack on the port of Azov; the authorities have not commented on this. According to Exilenova+, local residents reported a strike on the Azov Optical and Mechanical Plant, which produces defense products. According to The Moscow Times, the enterprise makes optics and radar equipment for military vehicles and electronic components for missiles, and is part of the Tactical Missiles Corporation holding. NASA FIRMS maps recorded fires near the plant. The plant was previously struck in July.

In the Belgorod region, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe, a local woman was injured in a Ukrainian strike and was hospitalized with bruises to her face and body. A married couple was killed when a drone struck a car in the village of Zozuli.

In the Stavropol region near Nevinnomyssk, air defense repelled a drone raid aimed, according to Governor Vladimir Vladimirov, toward the city's industrial zone. There were no casualties. In the Tula region, 36 drones were destroyed, with no injuries or damage reported so far. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported 20 drones flying toward the capital.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it intercepted and destroyed 645 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones between 8 p.m. on September 25 and 8 a.m. on September 26. They were shot down over the Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Oryol, Rostov, Ryazan and Tula regions, the Moscow region, the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions, annexed Crimea, and over the Black and Azov seas.

The previous night, on September 25, drones attacked the Perm and Novoshakhtinsk refineries. According to Reuters, the Perm plant completely halted refining after the strike. It became the fourth Russian refinery to stop operations after attacks since September 20, along with the Moscow, Kuibyshev and Novoshakhtinsk plants.

Accounts differ: Governor Kondratyev reported fatalities without giving a number or specifying which enterprises caught fire. ASTRA and The Insider identified the Ilsky refinery as attacked, while Ukrainian monitoring channels also named the Afipsky plant; however, The Insider confirmed a fire only at the Ilsky plant using NASA FIRMS maps and found no anomalies at the Afipsky plant. In the Rostov region, the governor reported five people hurt, while monitoring channels reported an attack on the Azov Optical and Mechanical Plant and fires near it; the authorities have not commented.