Massive blaze breaks out at top-5 Russian oil refinery in Yaroslavl — video

Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Yaroslavl, Yaroslavl Oblast, was struck overnight into Sept. 17, independent Russian Telegram news outlet Astra reported, citing its own geolocation and open-source verification of video footage showing widespread blazes at the facility. Local authorities acknowledged the facility was hit.

Yaroslavl Oblast Governor Mikhail Yevrayev reported inbound drone activity in Oblast. Authorities blocked a section of the M-8 federal highway leading out of Yaroslavl toward Moscow and rerouted public transit lines away from the industrial zone.

By morning, Yevrayev claimed air defense units intercepted 65 unmanned aerial vehicles overnight, but admitted that the refinery sustained damage and confirmed an active fire at the industrial site.

Footage of explosions and secondary fires was widely shared by Russian Telegram channels, including Exilenova+.

Slavneft-YANOS is among Russia’s five largest oil refineries, refining approximately 15 million metric tons of crude oil per year. The plant manufactures Euro-5 compliant gasoline and diesel, aviation kerosene, jet fuel, industrial lubricants, bitumen, paraffin waxes, aromatic hydrocarbons, liquefied petroleum gas, and furnace fuel oil.

A 99.7% controlling stake in Slavneft — whose flagship production asset is the Yaroslavl refinery—is jointly held by Russian state-controlled energy giants Rosneft and Gazprom.

This strategic processing facility has faced repeated Ukrainian long-range strikes throughout 2026.

According to Astra’s incident tracking, the Yaroslavl refinery caught fire at least eight times earlier this year: March 28, April 26, May 8, May 22, July 6, July 16, Aug. 6, and Aug. 28.