MOSCOW, September 22 — Ukraine has destroyed more than 45% of Russia’s projected refining capacity in a sustained summer campaign of long-range drone strikes, according to reporting by The Kyiv Independent, a campaign that has forced three of Russia’s largest diesel refineries to halt or slash output, Reuters reported. The effects have reached deep into Russian daily life. Long lines formed at gas pumps, turning each fill-up into an ordeal.
Flights to vacation destinations were canceled, delayed or rerouted. Online orders were disrupted as e-commerce hubs were struck.
The strikes have also reached the Russian capital. A massive Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow killed three people while Russia was voting, NBC News reported.
Moscow Escalates Against Kyiv
Russia has responded with its own escalation. The Guardian reported that Moscow would “intensify” attacks on Kyiv after the Russian capital was hit with mass drone strikes. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces struck several industrial facilities across Ukraine, including cargo vessels and steel plants, as Moscow continued a targeted campaign against Ukraine’s industrial infrastructure.
Both sides have pressed on with energy strikes despite diplomatic efforts, Reuters reported. U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on a Saturday to try to revive a stalled push to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Russian state news outlets.
The talks have yet to produce a halt in the strikes.
A Campaign Built on American Technology
The drone campaign depends heavily on U.S. technology that Ukraine does not fully control. Ukraine’s drone operations increasingly rely on Starlink, AI technologies from Palantir, and U.S.-made Hornet drones, and Ukrainian officers have expressed worry about that dependence, according to reporting on the subject. On the ground, Ukraine has reinforced the defence of its eastern Donetsk region as Russia mounted renewed efforts to seize Sloviansk, a key part of Ukraine’s fortress belt of cities that include Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka.
The long-range strike campaign and the ground war have continued in parallel, with Russia and Ukraine trading deadly strikes as Ukraine’s president prepared to meet the U.S. president. The refinery strikes represent a measurable economic impact on Russia’s energy sector.
The halting or slashing of output at three of the country’s largest diesel refineries, and the loss of more than 45% of projected refining capacity, are the clearest markers of that toll, according to the reporting. The campaign’s reach into Moscow itself, with a strike that killed three people during voting, illustrates how far Ukrainian drones can now travel.
The reliance on U.S. technology — Starlink for communications, Palantir AI, and Hornet drones — is a central vulnerability identified by Ukrainian officers, who do not fully control the systems their campaign depends on. What is at stake in the coming weeks is whether the diplomatic track can gain traction.
The envoys’ mission to Moscow remains active but stalled, even as both sides continued energy strikes. Watch whether the Witkoff-Kushner push yields any pause in the targeting of refineries and power infrastructure — or whether the drone campaign, and Russia’s retaliation against Kyiv, only deepens.
