--- title: "Drone Attack on the Lukoil-Nizhny Novgorod Neftorgsintez Refinery in Kstovo: Timeline of the Strike and Refining Shutdown" description: "On the night of August 26, 2026, long-range drones struck the ELAU-AVT-6 unit at the Lukoil-Nizhny Novgorod Neftorgsintez refinery in Kstovo. A fire broke out at the plant, and oil refining has been fully halted." date: 2026-08-27T07:40:08.000Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/drone-attack-ksntovo-lukoil-refinery-august-26-2026 tags: [drone-attack, npz-kstovo, lukoil, refinery, ukraine-russia-war] publisher: "XAB.info" --- # Drone Attack on the Lukoil-Nizhny Novgorod Neftorgsintez Refinery in Kstovo: Timeline of the Strike and Refining Shutdown ![Fire at the Lukoil Nizhnekamsknefteorgsintez refinery in Kstovo after a drone strike: burning tanks, black smoke and a UAV targeting reticle on a column](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/27/ataka-dronov-npz-kstovo-lukoil-26-avgusta-2026/ataka-dronov-npz-kstovo-lukoil-26-avgusta-2026-1.webp) ## 🎯 Key Points - On the night of August 26, 2026, drones attacked the Lukoil-Nizhny Novgorod Neftorgsintez refinery in Kstovo. - A hit was recorded on the ELAU-AVT-6 primary refining unit, and a fire broke out. - The oil refining process has been halted, and the unit has been taken out of service. - Figures for capacity and losses are inconsistent across sources (6 million vs. 15 million tons per year). On the night of August 26, 2026, the Lukoil-Nizhny Novgorod Neftorgsintez (NORSI) plant in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod Region, came under attack by long-range drones. According to media reports, direct hits on the factory grounds triggered a large-scale fire, and management urgently halted the oil refining process. ### Timeline of the Strike According to available information, around 2:30 a.m. a series of suicide drones breached the local air defense system and dove onto the plant's industrial facilities. The strike came at a time when the facility was only just recovering from previous attacks. ### Epicenter of the Damage The primary damage, according to reports, was sustained by the ELAU-AVT-6 primary refining unit — the plant's key installation. According to The Insider, it had already been damaged in May and July 2026 and had only recently returned to limited operation before the new strike. ### Condition of the Plant Emergency services contained the open fire by the morning of August 26, however the technological chain has been halted. A repeated thermal strike on the fractionation columns and tubular furnaces, according to estimates by industry experts, has taken the unit out of service for an indefinite period. ### Contradictory Data Figures vary across sources. The AVT-6 unit at the heart of the incident is valued at approximately 6 million tons of oil per year (more than half the refinery's capacity), while in some materials (e.g., glavred.info) the total capacity of the Kstovo refinery is given as 17 million tons, and the losses from the strike as "up to 15 million tons of feedstock on an annual basis." These figures are inconsistent with each other: if AVT-6 provides only about 6 million tons, then an estimate of 15 million tons in losses appears overstated. The exact scale of the damage and the recovery timeline have not been confirmed by an independent audit as of the time of publication. ## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification - [Lukoil's giant in flames: drones attacked a 17-million-ton refinery near Kstovo](https://glavred.info/war/gigant-lukoyla-v-ogne-drony-atakovali-npz-pod-kstovo-moshchnostyu-17-mln-tonn-10791428.html) - Подтверждает атаку дронов и пожар; называет мощность НПЗ 17 млн тонн, что не согласуется с оценкой доли АВТ-6 в 6 млн тонн. - [Drones attacked Lukoil's refinery in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Region, fire broke out](https://ru.slovoidilo.ua/2026/08/26/novost/bezopasnost/drony-atakovali-npz-lukojla-nizhegorodskoj-oblasti-rf-vspyxnul-pozhar) - Подтверждает факт атаки БПЛА и возгорание на НПЗ в Нижегородской области. - [Massive fires and explosions in Russia: drones hit more refineries and a Wildberries warehouse](https://24tv.ua/ru/kstovskij-npz-sklad-wildberries-kotovske-porazheny-udarami-bpla_n3129900) - Подтверждает удары БПЛА по НПЗ в Кстово в контексте серии атак. - [A thousand drones, 8 killed: in Tyumen, on city day, a refinery was hit; in Yekaterinburg a building nearly came down ...](https://svpressa.ru/accidents/article/525014/) - Общий контекст массированных атак БПЛА по НПЗ; не содержит деталей по Кстово. ## ❓ FAQ ### Q: What happened at the refinery in Kstovo on August 26, 2026? **A:** On the night of August 26, the Lukoil-Nizhny Novgorod Neftorgsintez plant came under attack by long-range drones. A hit on the AVT-6 primary refining unit was recorded, a fire broke out, and oil refining has been halted. ### Q: Which unit was hit? **A:** According to reports, the primary damage was sustained by the ELAU-AVT-6 primary refining unit, which, by estimates, provides more than half of the plant's capacity. ### Q: Has the plant's operation been stopped? **A:** Yes, the refining process has been halted. The open fire was contained by morning, but the unit has been taken out of service for an indefinite period. ### Q: Do the damage figures in the sources match? **A:** No. In some materials AVT-6's share is estimated at around 6 million tons per year, in others the losses from the strike are given as "up to 15 million tons," and the refinery's total capacity as 17 million tons. These data are inconsistent and require clarification.