Ukraine hits Russian rocket fuel plant in overnight strike

Ukraine escalated its long-range strike campaign this week, hitting targets across eight Russian regions in a wave of attacks on energy infrastructure, military-industrial facilities, and naval assets stretching from the Black Sea to the Caspian coast.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on September 11 that Ukrainian forces struck an industrial facility and an oil industry site in the Saratov and Volgograd regions, as well as targets in Dagestan, Udmurtia, and the Tula, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, and Samara regions. Zelenskyy said the aim was to reduce Russia's ability to wage war. "I thank everyone who is strengthening Ukraine's capabilities so that there are no safe havens left in Russia for anything that supports the war," he said.ua+1

Rosneft Refinery and Rubber Plant Hit

Bloomberg reported that Ukraine struck Rosneft PJSC's oil refinery in the Saratov region, with Ukraine's General Staff confirming fires at the site. Separately, on the night of September 12, Ukraine's General Staff confirmed a strike on the Tolyattikauchuk plant in Tolyatti, Samara region, where a fire broke out. The Kyiv Independent reported the plant produces synthetic rubbers used in the manufacture of solid rocket fuel for tactical and ballistic missiles. The General Staff said strikes on key facilities of Russia's military-industrial complex would continue.bloomberg+3

Caspian Port and Black Sea Warships

Among the most strategically notable strikes was the attack on the Makhachkala Sea Commercial Port in Dagestan, Russia's only ice-free deepwater port on the Caspian Sea. Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said the port serves as a link in the Russia-Iran logistics corridor used to transport military cargo, including Shahed-type attack drones. The port handled more than 2.9 million tonnes of cargo in the first eight months of 2026.euromaidanpress+1

Ukraine's General Staff also confirmed damage to three Russian warships at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk on September 9, identifying the vessels as the minesweeper Zheleznyakov, the frigate Admiral Essen, and the landing ship Pyotr Morgunov. Russian authorities said four people, including a child, were killed and 29 wounded in the Novorossiysk attack.foxnews+1

Expanding Strike Range

The attacks come days after U.S. peace envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff visited both Kyiv and Moscow in early September, during which Ukraine and Russia briefly paused long-range strikes on each other's capitals. That pause has since expired, and Ukraine has resumed and intensified its deep-strike operations. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War noted that recent strikes on targets as far as the Yamalo-Nenets region in Russia's Arctic north demonstrate Ukraine's ability to exploit gaps in Russian air defenses across vast territory.cnbc+2