Ukraine war briefing: refineries in Russia burn as Ukrainians go after Kremlin’s lifeline

• Ukrainian drones have attacked several oil refineries in Russia, hundreds of kilometres from the frontline in regions including Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad. The continuing attacks are part of a strategy to hurt Russia’s economy.

• The Ryazan oil refinery, Rosneft’s biggest refinery, was set ablaze, a regional governor said on Wednesday. It shut down two damaged primary oil refining units. Rosneft did not comment. The plant handles about 5.8% of Russia’s total refined crude, according to industry sources.

• A fire broke out at Norsi, Russia’s fourth-largest refinery, after a Ukrainian drone attack, Russian officials said on Tuesday. Its main crude distillation unit was damaged, which means that at least half of the refinery’s production is halted, according to industry sources. Norsi handles nearly 6% of Russia’s total refined crude. Before the latest drone attack, one of its two catalytic crackers had already been put out of action.

• The governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, said a Ukrainian drone targeted the Kirishi refinery. It is one of the top two refineries in Russia, handling 6.4% of Russia’s capacity, according to industry sources. And the Novoshakhtinsk export oil refinery in Russia’s southern Rostov region had to suspend operations on Wednesday after a drone attack.

• Ukraine’s situation on the battlefield is “difficult” and Russian forces could be poised to strike deep into Ukrainian lines in the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, has said. Syrskyi said that on the eastern front “the enemy continues to conduct offensive actions” in the Donetsk region. “At the same time, probably due to the high level of losses, the activity of the enemy in other areas of the front decreased significantly.” The president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told French media on Monday that Russia’s advance had been “halted” and the situation was “much better” than three months ago.

• Russia’s advance west of recently captured Avdiivka has slowed, according to the Institute for the Study of War, although “Russian forces likely retain the capability to intensify offensive operations in the area at a moment of their choosing”. It says Russian elements that suffered heavy casualties while on the offensive between October 2023 and mid-February 2024 were being rested and replenished. These represent a “sizeable uncommitted operational reserve that the Russian command can commit to continue and intensify efforts to push west of Avdiivka … A month or more of rest will likely allow Russian forces to replenish these elements and restore their degraded combat capabilities to the low-quality levels that Russian commanders appear willing to accept.” In the thinktank’s assessment, Russia continues to hold the initiative across the entire battlefront.

• In the US, congressional Democrats have urged the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, to “lead, follow or get out of the way” of more military support for Ukraine, Martin Pengelly writes for Guardian US. Senate Democrats and Republicans have passed a $95bn foreign aid package covering Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, but Johnson, under the direction of Donald Trump – the Republican presidential nominee who openly favours Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin – has shown no sign of bringing the Senate package up for a vote. House Democrats have lodged discharge petitions, a mechanism by which the speaker can be either bypassed, or shamed into action by the prospect of being overruled.

• EU countries have agreed to provide €5bn for military aid to Ukraine as part of a revamp of an EU-run assistance fund. The European Peace Facility (EPF) fund operates as a cashback scheme, giving EU members refunds for sending munitions to other countries.

• The first deliveries of artillery ammunition under a Czech-led plan to boost supplies by buying shells outside Europe should reach Ukraine by June at the latest, a senior Czech official has said. Large-calibre ammunition from previous orders was already being supplied,” national security adviser Tomas Pojar said.

• At least three people were killed in overnight Russian drone and bomb attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Sumy and Donetsk regions, local officials said on Wednesday.

• European lawmakers are stepping up calls for the return of Ukrainian children who had been forcibly moved to Russia. “At least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia or relocated to Belarus,” said Michaela Šojdrová, a Czech centre-right member of the European parliament.

• EU lawmakers also have voted to seek limits on duty-free imports of Ukrainian grain, which were allowed in the wake of Russia’s invasion but which have drawn criticism from EU farmers.