Kyiv Independent

Fire reported at Yaroslavl oil refinery as Ukrainian drones strike several Russian regions, target occupied Crimea

Prefer on Google by Volodymyr Ivanyshyn What purports to be fire burning at an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, Russia overnight on April 26, 2026. (Exilenova Plus/Telegra

Prefer on Google by Volodymyr Ivanyshyn What purports to be fire burning at an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, Russia overnight on April 26, 2026. (Exilenova Plus/Telegram) Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated. A fire is burning at an oil refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl as Ukrainian drones attacked several Russian regions and occupied Crimea overnight on April 26, authorities and social media channels reported. A drone attack threat was declared in Yaroslavl Oblast earlier in the night, Governor Mikhail Yevrayev reported, as independent Telegram news channel Exilenova Plus reported strikes on an oil refinery in Yaroslavl. Authorities have not yet commented on the result of the reported drone attack in Yaroslavl Oblast. In occupied Crimea, drone strikes were reported in the cities of Bakhchysarai and Sevastopol , Telegram news channel Crimean Wind reported . A map of Russian-occupied Crimea. (The Kyiv Independent) Another Ukrainian drone attack was also reported in the city of Michurinsk, Tambov Oblast, independent Russian Telegram news channel Astra reported . Earlier in the night, the city of Alekseyevka and the village of Rzhevka in Russia's Belgorod Oblast were struck by Ukrainian drones , Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported. Belgorod Oblast sits along Ukraine's northeastern border with Russia . "A residential building in the city of Alekseyevka was attacked by an airplane-type drone . A balcony in one of the apartments caught fire," Gladkov claimed. Four people were injured in the village of Rzhevka after a car was struck in the attack, he said. The details could not be immediately verified by the Kyiv Independent. Ukraine regularly strikes military infrastructure deep inside Russia and the occupied territories in an effort to diminish Moscow's capacity to continue waging war on Ukraine . Kyiv considers energy facilities to be valid military targets, as the energy sites provide fuel and funding for the Kremlin's war machine. On April 22, Ukrainian drones struck a command post of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in occupied Donetsk, killing 12 officers and injuring 15 others, Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert "Madyar" Brovdi reported.