In the night of August 27, 2026, Ukrainian military drones struck an oil refinery in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast — a facility with a capacity of around 17 million tonnes per year, part of Lukoil's structure. A fire broke out on the enterprise's territory. At the same time, according to reports from the authorities of Lipetsk Oblast, drones attacked a Wildberries warehouse in Kotovsk.
Route Bypassing Air Defense
The straight-line distance from the Ukrainian border to Kstovo is over 800 km, and taking maneuvering into account, the actual trajectory exceeded 1000 km. According to analysts' estimates, the aircraft flew at ultra-low altitudes (30–50 m) along river valleys — the Oka and the Volga — which kept them out of the detection range of stationary ground-based radars, while the approach to the target was carried out from eastern and north-eastern azimuths, where the density of air defense systems is minimal.
UAV Types and Swarm Tactics
The core of the long-range fleet, according to available estimates, includes the heavy strike drone 'Lyutyi' (warhead 50–75 kg, composite fuselage, anti-spoofing protection via CRPA antennas and DSMAC), the long-range aircraft-type UAV FP-1 with a low radar cross-section profile, as well as decoy targets with Luneburg lenses, which reveal the positions of 'Pantsir-S1' and 'Tor-M2' systems and deplete the air defense ammunition stock.
Contradictory Data
The fact of the attack and the fire at the Kstovo refinery, as well as the strike on the warehouse in Kotovsk, is confirmed by several independent publications. However, the specific types of UAVs used, the exact range, and the details of the route are not verified in open sources: they are based on analytical estimates rather than statements by officials. The plant's capacity (17 million tonnes) is cited in reports on the Lukoil enterprise, but the exact list of damaged facilities and the scale of the damage are not confirmed as of the time of publication.
