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Morning Edition · Saturday, October 10, 2026Published at 1:16 AM EDT · New York
Ukraine Hits Fuel Terminal at Russia's Novoshakhtinsk Refinery Hours After the Diesel Deal as Russia Targets Bridges in Kyiv
Russian authorities declared drone and missile alerts in 10 regions on Saturday morning, and Moscow's drones have struck three bridges across the Dnipro in a week.
A large fire broke out overnight at an oil terminal linked to the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia's Rostov region after a suspected drone strike, the Kyiv Independent reported. Citing the Russian outlet ASTRA, it also reported damage to a residential building in Rostov-on-Don. It was not clear what hit the building. Al Jazeera noted that the strike came hours after Presidents Trump and Putin announced that Russia would supply diesel to US and global markets.
Russian state media described the scale of the overnight attack without naming the targets. TASS reported that authorities declared air-raid alerts for drones and missiles in 10 Russian regions after midnight. As of 07:40 Moscow time, alerts were still in force in the Ivanovo, Ryazan, Samara, Ulyanovsk and Tula regions. RT reported that authorities in the Yaroslavl region said they had shot down small Ukrainian reconnaissance balloons over the region for the first time.
Russia has widened its own campaign against Ukrainian transport. The Financial Times reported that Russian drones hit two bridges in Kyiv and one in Zaporizhzhia over the past week. Meduza said these are the first Russian strikes on Kyiv's Dnipro bridges since the invasion, carried out with jet-powered drones that are harder to intercept. Kyiv Post reported Ukrainian figures showing that in one week Russia used more than 1,900 attack drones, 1,700 glide bombs and 25 missiles. Ukrinform reported that a glide bomb hit a five-story residential building in Zaporizhzhia early on Saturday and killed at least two people.
Each side presents its strikes as military and the other side's strikes as attacks on civilians. Neither side's casualty or damage figures can be independently verified.
Part of a tracked trend
Ukraine's Deep Strikes on Russian Energy and Logistics
Ukraine sustains a campaign against Russian refineries and supply lines over the next 3-6 months, pressuring Moscow's oil revenue while Russia retaliates against Ukraine's grid.
Veracity: Plausible
68/100- If true, who benefits
Kyiv raises the cost of Moscow's new diesel exports and shows it will not stop the strikes under US pressure. Moscow gains if Washington blames Ukraine for US fuel prices and presses Kyiv to stop.
- The nuance
The fire is reported by the Kyiv Independent, which cites ASTRA, and Rostov officials have not confirmed it. The timing "hours after the deal" does not show that the strike was a response to it. The refinery had also stopped operating after a September 25 attack, so this strike may take little supply away from the deal.
An open-source-intelligence read of how likely this story is true with its real nuance, not a judgment of any outlet. It assesses the claim, weighing independent and adversarial reporting. How we label confidence.
What this means
The two campaigns target different vulnerabilities. Ukraine is targeting Russian refining and export capacity, which supplies Moscow's new diesel arrangement with Washington. Russia is targeting the Dnipro River crossings that carry Ukraine's freight, workers and military supplies. Kyiv's strikes put it in direct conflict with US policy. Every diesel terminal Ukraine strikes reduces what Putin can deliver to Trump, so Washington's diplomatic leverage over Kyiv grows each time a strike succeeds. Moscow gains if the United States blames Ukraine for high fuel prices. Markets have priced persistent refinery damage into diesel margins. They have not priced the chance that Washington makes aid or intelligence conditional on a halt to strikes. The desk's read is that the United States will pressure Kyiv over the coming weeks to restrict strikes on refineries and export terminals, and that Ukraine will shift its targets toward military logistics rather than stop. The read is wrong if strikes on Russian export terminals continue at the same pace into November without any US response.
Synthesized from: Kyiv Independent · Al Jazeera · Financial Times · TASS (Russian)
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Comments
1Oct 10, 5:16 AM · edited
The strike targets the same refining and terminal capacity that Russian diesel exports depend on, so continued attacks would reduce the volume Moscow can actually deliver under the new deal.