Ukrainian Drones Strike Lukoil Oil Refinery in Ukhta, Komi Republic, Triggering Major Fire

Vladyslav Tovstyi directs dozens of operators flying thousands of drones from an underground command center in Donetsk Oblast as a fifth summer fighting season begins in Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

“MILAN — A Russian drone carrying explosives crashed in an apartment building in Romania overnight injuring at least two civilians, marking the first time a stray munition directly struck a residential area in the eastern European country”

Breaking Defense

The Washington Post describes the setting as looking more like a tech start-up than a forward bunker, with Tovstyi overseeing drone operations from underground.

Breaking Defense

In a separate account of the drone campaign, ynetnews says a Ukrainian-made suicide drone struck the Lukoil oil refinery in Ukhta in Russia’s northern Komi Republic, about 1,750 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, triggering explosions and a major fire.

ynetnews adds that the same refinery was struck again in February, and that the year 2025 became a record year for Ukrainian attacks on energy targets inside Russia, with at least 88 such strikes recorded by the Botak monitoring site.

The article also frames the shift as a battlefield change in which small tactical drones and FPV drones help Ukraine stop, wear down, and destroy Russian forces along the front in Donbas and in the southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

A Russian drone carrying explosives crashed in an apartment building in Galați, Romania, injuring at least two civilians, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Toiu Oana said in a statement on X.

Breaking Defense reports that Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and a helicopter after the drone was detected by radar, but Romanian President Nicosur Dan specified in another post on X that they did not engage the target because the conditions did not exist to destroy the drone without heightening the risk of endangering civilian safety.

Business Insider

Kyiv Post reports that Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on Friday that “Ukraine stands firmly by Romania” and said the incident shows Russia’s war poses risks beyond Ukraine.

The Kyiv Post also says Romania’s defense ministry described the incident as a “serious escalation” and that it had informed NATO while requesting faster deployment of anti-drone systems.

The Jerusalem Post adds that NATO said it would strengthen its defenses against all threats, including drones, after the drone crashed onto the roof of a 10-story block of flats in Galati and injured two people.

As Russia’s drone tactics evolve, Business Insider reports that Oleksiy Vyskub, Ukraine’s first deputy defense minister, said Russia is launching a growing number of one-way attack drones controlled remotely by operators to hunt moving targets and evade interception.

Business Insider quotes Vyskub saying, “The most critical component is that these controlled Shaheds may attack dynamic targets, which include our aircrews — our teams,” and it describes Samuel Bendett warning that operator-controlled Shaheds represent “a growing danger for Ukrainian civilian and military targets.”

The same Business Insider report says Mykhailo Fedorov told reporters that the number of Shahed launches increased by 35% month over month since the start of the year, and it adds that Russia launched over 6,500 Shahed-type drones in April.

In parallel, Les Echos describes Ukraine’s effort to counter the drone threat through Mission Control and Brave1 Dataroom, with the Ministry of Defense presenting Brave1 Dataroom as a secure environment to train and test AI models from battlefield data.

Les Echos also says the Ministry of Defense announced the launch of Mission Control on January 23 and that it aims to standardize practices and eliminate manual reports, while focusing on air defense and the fight against Russian drones as Moscow intensifies its air strikes.