Drones hit Transneft’s Samara oil pumping and blending station near the village of Prosvet in Russia’s Samara Oblast overnight on 2 November, Ukrainian defense-news outlet Militarnyi reported. It was at least the fifth attack on the site since 2 October.

In September, US President Donald Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop hitting refineries, saying there were “plenty of other targets.” If that request is the line, a pumping and blending hub like Samara falls outside it. Yet it handles the crude Russia exports.

As of midday on 2 November, Ukraine had not claimed the strike. On 31 October, Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent that Kyiv had never agreed to halt refinery strikes.

The station was last hit on 11 October, the day Trump announced an “energy ceasefire.” On 27 October, Zelenskyy said Kyiv had stopped hitting refineries for 72 hours after Trump’s announcement, at Washington’s request. Then, on 30 October, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that attacks on Russian refineries had resumed after a break. Kyiv has long said it would stop such strikes if Russia stopped hitting Ukraine’s energy system.

Fire logged from orbit

Air-raid alerts sounded in the region at 23:19 Kyiv time on 1 November. About an hour later, Russia’s aviation agency restricted flights at Samara’s Kurumoch airport. NASA’s FIRMS satellite fire tracker then logged a heat anomaly at the station before the 06:56 all-clear, Militarnyi said.

Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ posted video of the blaze. Russian outlet The Insider confirmed the fire on FIRMS maps. Russian Telegram channel Astra wrote that the station was probably attacked, citing black smoke from the direction of the tank farm.

Samara Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev claimed a Ukrainian air attack on the region but named no targets.

The tank farm that makes Urals

Trunk pipelines bring crude to the station from Tatarstan, Western Siberia, and other Russian oil-producing regions. There, oils with different sulfur content are blended into Urals, Russia’s main export grade, Militarnyi wrote.

Ukraine’s General Staff says Urals makes up as much as 50% of Russia’s oil exports. It also says its 2 October strike damaged 11 tanks of 20,000 cubic meters and three of 50,000 cubic meters.