Drone attack on Ufa: fire breaks out at Bashneft-Novoyl refinery, infrastructure damaged

Fire at key oil refining facility in Ufa

The morning of 31 October, Saturday, in the Russian city of Ufa (Republic of Bashkortostan) began with a series of explosions in the industrial zone. Following drone strikes, thick smoke rose over the city, and a fire broke out on the territory of one of the oil refineries.

According to data from OSINT analysts at ASTRA, who analysed footage shot by witnesses, the direct target was the Bashneft-Novoyl plant. Meanwhile, the monitoring resource "Crimean Wind" reports probable damage to another enterprise — Bashneft-UNPZ. Local residents in city chats claim that the fire may have engulfed two plants at once, although there is no independent confirmation of these rumours yet.

Specifications of the damaged infrastructure

In the northern part of Ufa's industrial zone, three major oil refining companies are concentrated: Bashneft-Novoyl, Bashneft-UNPZ, and Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim. They form a single Ufa Oil Refining Complex, which belongs to the company Bashneft (part of the Rosneft structure).

The total capacity of these three enterprises is approximately 23.5 million tonnes of raw material per year. Specifically, Bashneft-Novoyl specialises in the production of Euro-6 standard petrol, diesel fuel, aviation kerosene, and industrial oils. Therefore, damage to this facility may have significance for Russia's fuel infrastructure.

Government response and aviation restrictions

Russian media report that at approximately 05:40 local time, a UAV attack threat was declared in Bashkortostan. Witnesses recorded the operation of air defence systems and explosions.

Due to security risks, the operations of Ufa International Airport were temporarily restricted. Similar measures were also implemented in Kazan and Samara.

The Russian Ministry of Defence stated that during the night, their air defence systems allegedly intercepted and destroyed 433 Ukrainian drones over 19 regions of the country, including Bashkortostan. The exact number of drones recorded specifically in the republic is not disclosed.

As of the morning of 31 October, local officials had not published information about casualties or the scale of destruction. Data on the extent of damage to the oil refineries also remains unknown.

It is worth noting that previously, on the night of 29–30 October, drones attacked Novokuybyshevsk in Samara Oblast, where a fire also broke out at a refinery producing jet fuel for Russian aviation.