The Defense Forces of Ukraine delivered another strike on Russian oil and gas facilities during the night of February 2 to 3, 2025, expanding the "geography" of their attacks.
The targets of the strikes included the Volgograd Oil Refinery "Volgogradneftepererabotka," owned by "Lukoil," which is already familiar with Ukrainian long-range drones, as well as a gas processing plant in the Astrakhan region, which was attacked for the first time.
The effectiveness of the strike was evidently ensured by the mass and concentration of drones, as the so-called Russian Defense Ministry reported that they "shot down" 70 Ukrainian long-range drones, without specifying how many were launched. It was claimed that over the Volgograd region, where the oil refinery was hit, 25 drones were "intercepted," and over Astrakhan, 7. Naturally, both Russian facilities were impacted "by debris."
It is worth noting that "Volgogradneftepererabotka" has a designed oil processing capacity of approximately 14.5 million tons per year, making it one of the largest in Russia (ranking 5th-6th). This marks the second attack on it in the last three days, as the previous strike occurred on January 31. Videos captured by locals show damage to the refinery, and local authorities confirmed that a fire has broken out at the site.
At the same time, NASA's fire monitoring service indicates that the key primary oil processing unit remained intact this time.
Regarding the Astrakhan gas processing plant owned by "Gazprom," local authorities also confirmed the occurrence of a fire and reported the evacuation of employees. The videos from the scene are more than telling.
This plant is also one of the largest in Russia, processing approximately 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 3.5 million tons of gas condensate annually. Local channels report damage to the primary gas condensate processing unit.