Symbolic imageOrsk refinery out for months as drone strikes hit Russian fuel and grain exports
Ukrainian drones have fully shut Russia's Orsk refinery, with repairs put at up to six months. Bloomberg reports Russian diesel exports at their lowest in years.
Drones struck the Orsknefteorgsintez plant in the Orenburg region early on Tuesday, 11 August, hitting the primary refining unit, according to Ukrainian monitoring channels. Governor Yevgeny Solntsev said on Thursday that fragments had damaged key infrastructure that cannot be restored and that sanctions make the imported equipment hard to replace. The region will rely on fuel brought in from outside, with 80 percent of its 287 filling stations open.
Novorossiysk grain flow stops
Delo Group halted its KSK terminal, Novorossiysk's last working grain hub, after Ukraine's drone, missile and sea-boat attack overnight on Wednesday, 12 August; Reuters says the other two stopped a day earlier.
Ukraine's own harvest stuck
TASS quotes Sergey Rybalko of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council as saying monthly grain exports could fall from over 4 million tons to 2-2.5 million, and to 500,000 tons next month.
Wildberries damage estimate
Data Insight analyst Sergei Semko told Forbes Russia that damage to the retailer and its sellers from drone strikes on its warehouses totals 600-800 billion rubles.
Other opinions
TASS covers the Black Sea only through Ukrainian farmers cut off from their own ports; the New York Times frames it as a Russian blockade threatening global grain supplies.