In Russia’s interior, explosions were heard again overnight on December 31 as drones targeted the city of Rybinsk in the Yaroslavl region. Fuel tanks at a Rosrezerv facility caught fire, dealing another blow to the Russian army’s logistics, the news outlet ASTRA reported.
According to local residents, explosions rang out in Rybinsk after an air-raid alert, followed by a fire. The Telegram channel Astra said the blaze engulfed fuel tanks at Rosrezerv’s FGKU Kombinat “Temp,” a storage site within Russia’s Federal Agency for State Reserves.
The Ukrainian news agency RCB-Ukraine confirmed, citing its sources, that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) struck a Russian state oil reserve facility in Russia’s Yaroslavl region on the morning of December 31, sparking a large fire.
The target was an oil depot in the city of Rybinsk, which is part of Russia’s state reserve system and is used to store large volumes of fuel, the outlet reported. Rybinsk is a major transit and logistics hub, and the Temp depot is a key node for storing and distributing petroleum products in Russia’s northeast, the report said.
“The SBU is surgically cutting Russia’s fuel supply chains both abroad and to the forces attacking Ukraine. This systematic work will continue in 2026,” an SBU source said, according to RBC-Ukraine.
Ukraine has for months been systematically striking Russian refineries and fuel depots, describing them as legitimate military targets. Oil, gasoline and diesel are used to supply the Russian army or sold abroad, with the proceeds helping to sustain Russia’s war effort against Ukraine.
According to Bloomberg, December 2025 set a record for the number of attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure. There were at least 24 strikes during the month: 10 oil refineries, 11 maritime infrastructure sites, two tankers and one component of a major pipeline system were hit. The tally surpassed November’s record of 23 attacks.
The strikes on Rybinsk are part of a consistent Ukrainian military strategy aimed at depriving Russia of fuel and revenue needed to sustain its occupation forces.
