Fire, smoke, and anti-drone nets: Satellite images capture scenes from the fight engulfing Russia’s oil industry

• New satellite imagery shows elements of the ongoing fight over Russia’s oil industry.
• At one oil refinery, anti-drone netting can be seen, and at another, black smoke rises up from the damaged facility.
• Russia’s energy sector is a critical source of revenue fueling its war against Ukraine.

New satellite images underscore how Ukrainian long-range strikes are turning Russia’s precious oil industry into a battlefield.

Ukraine has been increasingly targeting Russian energy facilities and has noticeably stepped up its strikes in recent months, with more than two dozen attacks on oil refineries since the start of August. It is part of a campaign intended to put pressure on a key source of revenue for Moscow, one fueling the war against its neighbor.

Images captured this month by Vantor, a US spatial intelligence firm, and obtained by Business Insider show nets stretching over one refinery — part of Russia’s effort to defend its oil facilities from drone attacks — as well as the aftermath of a successful Ukrainian strike.

An image taken on October 2 shows anti-drone netting covering three storage tanks at the Kuybyshevskiy oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region.

The netting isn’t new and was spotted in imagery earlier this year. But it highlights how Moscow is using improvised defenses to protect its critical energy infrastructure from Ukrainian drone attacks. The defensive tactic has been observed at other Russian refineries. Makeshift defenses like these have also been tried to shield vulnerable Russian warships in port from naval drones.

Kyiv attacked the Kuybyshevskiy facility, some 500 miles away from the Ukrainian border, in late August.

Anti-drone nets have become a common defense in the war. Ukrainian soldiers, for instance, have been covering critical front-line logistics routes with netting, and both militaries have added cage-like netting to armored vehicles to protect them from drones.

Kyle Glen, an investigator with the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience who tracks Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s energy sector, told Business Insider on Tuesday that there have been 30 attacks on 19 different Russian oil refineries since the start of August.

An attack on October 13 targeted the Feodosia oil terminal in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. Long-range drones struck at least five storage tanks, causing a massive fire at the facility, a Ukrainian security source told Business Insider.

A satellite image taken on October 15, two days after the attack, shows a massive plume of black smoke rising from the facility.

Russia’s energy sector is a significant source of income, estimated to be worth about 20% of its GDP on average. Oil and natural gas exports fuel Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine, making it a target for Kyiv.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, also known as the HUR, said in a statement on Tuesday that Russia’s fuel and energy sector is an “integral part” of its military-industrial complex.

“Striking key energy facilities limits the production and logistical capabilities of the aggressor, reduces its financial resources, and weakens its ability to conduct a prolonged military campaign,” the agency said.

Ukrainian officials have said that the drone attacks are causing fuel shortages in Russia and rendering idle a large portion of its oil refineries. The International Energy Agency assesses that the deep-strike campaign is likely to stifle Russian refinery processing rates well into next year.

The attacks on Russian energy facilities have largely been carried out with domestically produced drones. Ukraine has invested heavily in the development of deep-strike weapons to enforce what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has referred to as “long-range sanctions against Russia.”

Russia, meanwhile, continues hitting Ukraine with deep strikes targeting its energy sector and other civilian infrastructure. Nightly attacks are often comprised of hundreds of missiles and drones that overwhelm Kyiv’s air defenses.

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