The constant attacks make the growing problems of Russian warfare clear.Image: keystone
June 28, 2026, 3:06 p.mJune 28, 2026, 3:34 p.m
Andre Ballin, dpa
The fire that broke out in a refinery in the Krasnodar region on Sunday night is now a familiar sight for many Russians. This weekend alone, the Ukrainians say they hit three Russian oil industry facilities with drones. In addition, Ukrainian rockets severely damaged an arms factory in the city of Volgograd, a city of over a million inhabitants. The constant attacks reveal growing problems in Russian warfare.
He ultimately called for a meeting with Putin on the Instagram platform, which is actually banned in Russia, in order to tell him “the whole truth about what is happening in our country.” At the front, soldiers were exploited, tortured and burned to death by their superiors, he complained. If the Kremlin chief refused, he threatened “serious consequences.” The army would then turn its weapons on the Kremlin, he said. Like Bonja, this video was seen and liked many times.
Columns of smoke indicate damage to the refinery
Hours later, kilometers-high columns of black smoke could still be seen above the refinery in the images and videos shared on social networks. Because of its location in the immediate vicinity of the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia, the Ukrainians have attacked and damaged the refinery several times.
Other Russian regions such as Yaroslavl and Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, also reported drone attacks. While the Russian authorities did not provide any information about the consequences, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later said that a refinery in Yaroslavl had also been attacked. It remained unclear whether there was any damage to the facility and how serious it was. However, the Ukrainians have damaged the Yaroslavl refinery several times in the past, leading to expensive repairs and extended downtime.
Important arms factory hit
Kyiv landed an equally serious blow in Volgograd the day before. There, the Ukrainian military attacked the Titan-Barrikady arms factory with Flamingo cruise missiles of its own production. “This is an extremely important factory,” emphasized the independent Russian military analyst Jan Matveyev. “It produces missile systems and projectiles for the Yars, Sarmat, Iskander complexes and the Msta self-propelled howitzer,” he said.
Jars (NATO code SS-27) and Sarmat (NATO designation Satan 2) are strategic weapons that can in principle also carry nuclear warheads. It can therefore be assumed that the factory was involved in the development of the new Russian Oreshnik medium-range missile, Matveyev speculates.
Video: twitter/@ZelenskyyUa
Crisis becomes apparent
While the impact in the arms factory produced spectacular images, the ongoing shelling of oil facilities has left deeper marks on Russians’ everyday lives: The fuel crisis, which began in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, has now affected almost all regions of the country. Long queues form at gas stations that still sell gasoline. In Crimea, gas stations no longer sell fuel to private individuals.
After the internet shutdowns, this is now the second obvious sign, also for large sections of the population, that the war ordered by President Vladimir Putin in 2022 is not going anywhere as expected. Criticism is increasing – even among die-hard patriots.
New critic behind bars for now
In April, blogger Viktoria Bonja, who actually specializes in lifestyle topics, complained that high-ranking officials were hiding this problem out of fear of Putin, but now an ex-front soldier has spoken out.
He ultimately called for a meeting with Putin on the Instagram platform, which is actually banned in Russia, in order to tell him “the whole truth about what is happening in our country.” At the front, soldiers were exploited, tortured and burned to death by their superiors, he complained. If the Kremlin chief refused, he threatened “serious consequences.” The army would then turn its weapons on the Kremlin, he said. Like Bonja, this video was seen and liked many times.
In contrast to Bonja, whose criticism forced the Kremlin to assure that the problems were known and were being worked on, this time the Russian authorities reacted in a tried and tested manner. The police searched the military blogger’s house and then took him into custody – initially for eleven days. (sda/dpa)