Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries have long-lasting effects: some plants have not recovered even year later, - FT
Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries led to a prolonged decline in their operations. Some facilities that were attacked in 2025 had not returned to their previous levels of operation even more than a year later.
According to Censor.NET, which cites the Financial Times, this is evidenced by the results of a study in which the authors analyzed changes in the activity of Russian oil refineries using satellite data.
Researchers studied nighttime light emissions around the 29 largest oil refineries in Russia from June 2022 to May 2026. They used light levels as an indicator of the refineries’ production activity.
After the first strike on the oil refinery, the intensity of nighttime lighting decreased by an average of 30% within a one-kilometer radius of the facility and by 18% within a five-kilometer radius.
Even after factories partially resumed operations, the return to previous levels of activity was slow. At the facilities that were attacked in 2025, the reduced performance levels persisted for more than 13 months.
The authors of the study also note that strikes on other types of targets—such as military bases, transportation hubs, or fuel storage facilities—did not result in such a prolonged reduction in nighttime light emissions.
