Ukrainian drones set the Afipsky oil refinery in Russia's Krasnodar Krai on fire again overnight on 6 November, Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ reported. Smoke from the plant drifted toward Krasnodar, while local authorities blamed falling drone debris for a fire at an unnamed enterprise. Explosions and power outages were also reported in neighboring Adygea and in occupied Crimea.

Ukraine has resumed its long-range drone campaign against Russia's fuel industry after a pause in late October, despite reports that Kyiv was told to spare refineries or lose US intelligence and arms. Each new fire tests how long Moscow can keep the plants that fuel its army running.

Fire at the plant, smoke over Krasnodar

Exilenova+ first flagged a likely attack on the refinery at 04:54 Kyiv time. Later, the channel posted footage of a fire on Krasnodar's outskirts, with the refinery burning in the background. It also said new waves of drones were coming in. Radio Svoboda geolocated witness footage of the fire to the refinery. It puts the plant's declared capacity at more than 9 million tons of fuel and other products a year.

Photos Exilenova+ shared on X show fire glowing in the dark and smoke at dawn.

Russian news Telegram channel Astra wrote that there was no official confirmation of a hit on the refinery. Residents described explosions, air defense fire, and smoke reaching the city's outskirts. Russia's aviation agency also restricted flights at Krasnodar airport.

Russia blames debris again

Krasnodar Krai's operational headquarters claimed that falling drone debris started a fire on the grounds of "one of the enterprises" in the township of Afipsky, Seversky district. Its statement did not name the plant. It said no one was hurt and that drone fragments broke windows in an apartment in a low-rise block.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its air defense downed 142 Ukrainian drones overnight. It listed Kursk, Belgorod, Tula, Oryol, Rostov, and Astrakhan oblasts, Moscow Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, occupied Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas. Footage Exilenova+ posted after sunrise shows the smoke rising above the plant.

Explosions in Adygea, blackouts in occupied Crimea

Explosions were reported elsewhere overnight too. Exilenova+ reported fires after explosions in Adygea, a Russian republic surrounded by Krasnodar Krai. Ukrainian Telegram channel Supernova+ claimed there were reports that a site of Ozon, a Russian online retailer, was hit there. Drones set an Ozon logistics center in Adygea's Adygeysk on fire two nights earlier.

Occupied Crimea lost power again. Telegram channel Krymsky Veter cited subscribers who heard two powerful blasts in Dzhankoi district and two in Feodosiia, where power partly went out. Another subscriber heard eight distant explosions from the direction of Simferopol's Tavriiska thermal power plant, followed by a full blackout in the city's Mariine neighborhood. By morning, Sevastopol lacked electricity, trolleybuses stopped in Simferopol, and trams halted in Yevpatoriia. The occupation's power company, Krymenergo, blamed an accident on trunk lines without saying where, the channel noted.

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Ukraine says its strikes have knocked out more than 51% of Russia’s oil refining capacity

A plant the drones keep coming back to

The refinery sits about 20 km southwest of Krasnodar and about 360 km from the front line. It can process about 6.25 million tons of crude a year. Drones returned to the plant, one of southern Russia's largest, in June, and in July it was one of two refineries struck in a single night. By late August, it had burned for the fifth time this year, with Russia again citing debris.

The damage goes well beyond one plant. By late September, Ukrainian strikes had knocked out 15 of Russia's 38 major refineries and forced 12 more to cut output, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) said. Refining at those plants fell 55.4% compared with the start of the year, by HUR's count.

With refineries and fuel depots in the same krai hit again and again, Russia's southern fuel network has to repair the same plants over and over.

Russian authorities have stopped providing residents of occupied Crimea with subsidized liquefied gas in cylinders, Krym.Realii, the Crimea service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, reported on 2 November. The fuel has become scarce in the region amid Ukrainian strikes on Russian logistics in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Since summer, Ukrainian drones have been hitting the Russian trucks and ships that supply occupied Crimea. A year after Russia occupied Crimea, on 23 July 2015, the occupation authorities wanted to provide gas connections to 100% of Crimean settlements within 2 years, Neftegaz reported. Crimea is still not fully connected to gas, Krym.Realii notes. Social media users are now discussing whether the policy reversal could be linked to Russia cutting costs amid its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the media outlet reports.

Previously, 13 categories of eligible Crimean residents living in homes or apartments without gas connections were entitled to receive liquefied gas free of charge, Krym.Realii reported. They will now have to pay for it.

Dmitry Nadtochaev, head of the occupation’s state gas company Krymgazseti, announced the end of free bottled gas in October. Eligible groups will still get priority, he said.

The emergency rule remains in place, but the promise of free gas does not

The decision came as a surprise to many residents. In July, Russian-installed Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov had promised to provide residents with free bottled gas for the duration of the state of emergency declared in the region due to fuel and energy shortages, Krym.Realii reported.

“I know that a large number of Crimeans currently need bottled gas. I have decided that bottled gas will be distributed to the population free of charge for as long as the state of emergency remains in effect,” Aksyonov said.

The state of emergency remains in effect. Yet free gas has been replaced by cylinders sold at market prices, the media outlet reports. Officials have not explained why their approach to meeting residents’ needs has changed so abruptly.

Gas prices vary widely, and one village has had no delivery for months

The cost of bottled gas varies significantly across Crimea. Nadtochaev announced a social price of 1,486 rubles (about $18) per cylinder from 19 October. In Yalta, however, bottled gas was offered for 1,155 rubles (around $14), while residents of Vityne village in the Saky district reported prices of 5,000–6,000 rubles ($62–74) per cylinder, Krym.Realii said.

“Gas was delivered about three months ago, so it has already run out. People are left without gas: pensioners, large families, and families of participants in the [so-called] ‘special military operation’,” Tatyana Yakovleva wrote on behalf of Vityne residents.

She said the price was unaffordable for local households and that the district administration had been unable to make a decision for two weeks.

For people with disabilities and other eligible residents, the problem extends beyond the price. According to complaints cited by Krym.Realii, local Russian-installed authorities provide no information about the order in which households will receive supplies or when deliveries are expected. Officials say eligible residents may still receive free gas in limited quantities, with a quota of one cylinder per household every two months.

Ukraine expands its deep-strike units

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 30 October that new decisions had been made for Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to expand their units conducting deep-strike missions. He described Ukraine’s long-range capabilities as a long-term security guarantee and a means of protecting the country’s independence.

In October, Ukrainian forces carried out 20 documented strikes on facilities in Russia’s oil and gas sector, Ukrainian military outlet Militarnyi reports, citing data from its map.

Some European diplomats in Seoul are weighing whether they can still trust South Korea as a like-minded partner if it grows closer to Russia, the Financial Times reported on 28 October, according to South Korea’s Financial News. One European diplomat also told the FT that Seoul wants to resume trade with Russia as soon as the war ends.

As Russia presses its war against Ukraine, Kyiv’s partners count on each other to keep up the pressure on Moscow. The doubts about South Korea now come from its European partners, not only from Kyiv. The report lands eight days after Seoul said it would withdraw about half its staff from Kyiv over a dispute about two North Korean prisoners of war.

An Arctic voyage, a new adviser, and signals from Moscow

According to the FT, European diplomats saw a South Korean pilot voyage along Russia’s Arctic sea route as a sign of a tilt toward Russia, since the voyage required extensive cooperation from Moscow.

Meanwhile, on 1 October, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung appointed Song Young-gil, a six-term lawmaker and former chair of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, as his special adviser on peace diplomacy. Song once served as a special envoy to Russia, the FT noted.

On 20 October, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Seoul had signaled it wants to normalize relations but says full normalization can come only after a change in the geopolitical situation, which he said means the end of the war in Ukraine.

Fuel for Russia loaded at South Korean ports, but Seoul denies direct exports

The FT also cited reports of fuel shipments to Russia. A Guardian analysis published on 6 October found that more than 176,000 tons of fuel, mostly diesel, were loaded at South Korean ports in July and August. The fuel went onto seven tankers bound for Russia’s Far East, three of them under UK and EU sanctions. The Guardian said the trade does not appear to breach South Korean law.

On 8 October, South Korea’s foreign and trade ministries and customs service said no diesel, jet fuel, or gasoline had been exported to Russia through customs. They said they would examine the tankers’ routes and any divergence from their declared destinations before judging whether the law had been broken.

Ukraine’s sanctions commissioner Vladyslav Vlasiuk said the shipments helped Russia offset refinery losses caused by Ukrainian strikes. South Korea’s presidential office called the claim inaccurate and inappropriate, saying the key facts of the transactions had not been verified.

Seoul rejects the criticism

In a statement to the FT, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said concerns in some quarters that the country was leaning too far toward Russia were not based on fact. It added that Seoul supports international efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Seoul cuts its Kyiv embassy staff over the POW dispute

At the same time, relations with Ukraine have deteriorated over the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, which Zelenskyy disclosed at the UN General Assembly in September. Seoul says the disclosure broke a confidentiality understanding. Dmytro Lytvyn, Zelenskyy’s communications adviser, wrote in a Facebook comment on 25 September that “there was no such agreement.”

On 20 October, Seoul said it would withdraw roughly half its diplomatic staff from Kyiv, citing Kyiv’s failure to take “positive steps” on the POW dispute and continued Russian airstrikes, Yonhap reported. A chargé d’affaires and all consular staff will stay.