Ukrainian Drones Hit Sochi and Sterlitamak
Ukraine's drones struck fuel depots in Sochi and a chemical plant in Sterlitamak, 1,300 kilometers from the border, while two Russian refineries remain offline after earlier strikes.
On the night of September 4, Ukrainian drones struck two fuel depots in Sochi and a chemical plant in Sterlitamak, in Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan, more than 1,300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. This is the first time we’ve covered this deep strike campaign against Russia’s oil and chemical industry, and the night of September 4 shows how wide its range has become, reaching from the Black Sea coast to the Russian interior. For Serbia, whose energy security depends on stable oil and gas supplies in the region, every new strike on Russian refining capacity shifts the calculus on Europe’s fuel market.
In Sochi, the drones hit depots belonging to Rosneft’s Kubanneftprodukt in the Adler district and Lukoil’s Yuzhnefteprodukt in the federal territory of Sirius. Both caught fire despite protective structures. The BATO aviation fuel terminal burned down, with 12 tanks holding a combined 8,400 cubic meters, located only about 100 meters from Sochi’s international airport, which in 2024 was Russia’s fifth busiest by passenger traffic. The same night, an air defense position, either an S-300 or an S-400 system, was hit near the Psou River on the border with Abkhazia, about 600 kilometers from the front line. Sochi Mayor Andrei Proshunin confirmed the fire at the depot, and the regional headquarters said there were no casualties.
In Sterlitamak, according to local reports and videos that circulated on social media, the drones hit the Avangard explosives plant and the Sterlitamak Petrochemical Plant. Residents reported a series of explosions, and in one video a man says about 12 drones had already flown toward the plant. The Agidol unit, an overpass at the isoprene facility, and isopentane dehydrogenation units were damaged, and the plant halted operations. Bashkortostan’s authorities said in a statement that “a drone attack was carried out on Sterlitamak’s industrial zone,” but did not immediately name the facility hit, while Ukraine’s military has not officially commented on the Sterlitamak strike, so Kyiv Independent says it cannot independently confirm it.
The plant produces aviation gasoline and synthetic rubber, has operated since 1963, and is owned by the Ruschem holding. This was not its first time under attack: drones also struck it in November 2025, in April 2026, and again on August 27, 2026, making this latest strike part of a pattern rather than an isolated case.
The campaign has also been felt deep inside Russia’s oil refining sector in the same period. Lukoil’s NORSI refinery in Kstovo, in Nizhny Novgorod region and about 800 kilometers from the border, stopped operating after a strike on August 26. It is Russia’s fourth largest refinery and its second largest gasoline producer, processing 15 to 17 million tons of crude oil a year. Novatek’s Ust Luga complex in Slobodka, in Leningrad region and about 850 kilometers from the border, halted operations after a strike on September 1. Ukraine’s General Staff said these strikes hit “complex condensate processing and hydrocracking equipment, as well as pipelines and other oil infrastructure.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry, in a statement covering the same night, said that “490 drones were shot down overnight across several regions,” without addressing the damage in Sochi or Sterlitamak specifically. The gap between Russia’s emphasis on the number of drones downed and Ukrainian and local reports of strikes deep inside Russian territory remains a feature of coverage like this, and this night was no exception.
