Russia shot down 361 Ukrainian drones as Kyiv targets major refinery in mass assault

Russia said on Sunday its air defences had intercepted 361 Ukrainian drones overnight in one of the largest aerial assaults since the start of the war, alongside the downing of several guided bombs and a US-made HIMARS missile.

The barrage targeted multiple regions, including a strike on the vast Kirishi oil refinery in northwest Russia, one of the country’s biggest processing facilities. Officials said a fire broke out at the site but was swiftly contained, with no casualties reported.

The refinery attack marks the latest escalation in Ukraine’s campaign against Russia’s energy infrastructure, a strategy aimed at weakening Moscow’s war economy. Kyiv has repeatedly struck refineries, pipelines, and storage depots in recent months, forcing Russia to bolster air defence coverage deep inside its territory.

The assault comes as global powers debate pathways to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two, even as drone warfare intensifies. In recent days, Russia has accused Ukraine of extending its drone operations near the Baltic Sea, while Kyiv insists its strikes are necessary to disrupt Moscow’s military logistics.

Romania, Poland, scramble aircraft

Romania became the latest NATO member state to report a drone incursion into its airspace Saturday, as Poland scrambled aircraft in response to fresh Russian drone strikes just over the border in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was deliberately expanding its drone operations and that the West needed to respond with tougher sanctions and closer defence cooperation.

In Washington, US President Donald Trump said he was ready to impose major sanctions on Russia – just as soon as all NATO nations did the same thing and stopped buying Russian oil.

Romania’s defence ministry said Saturday that the country’s airspace had been breached by a drone during a Russian attack on infrastructure in neighbouring Ukraine.

The country scrambled two F-16 fighter jets late on Saturday to monitor the situation following the strikes, said a defence ministry statement.

The jets “detected a drone in national airspace” and tracked it until “it disappeared from the radar” near the Romanian village of Chilia Veche, it added.

Zelenskyy’s warning

Poland and its fellow NATO countries have been on their guard since Warsaw said nearly 20 Russian drones entered its airspace overnight Tuesday to Wednesday.

While Russia denies targeting Poland, several European countries including France, Germany and Sweden have stepped up their support for defending Polish airspace in response.

“Today, Romania scrambled combat aircraft because of a Russian drone in its airspace,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Also today, Poland responded militarily to the threat of Russian attack drones,” which had also been active in different regions of Ukraine all day, he added.

The Russian military knows exactly where their drones are headed and how long they can operate in the air,” said Zelenskyy.

The latest drone incursions were “an obvious expansion of the war by Russia”, he added.

What was required in response were fresh sanctions against Russia and a collective defence system, Zelensky argued.

“Do not wait for dozens of ‘shaheds’ and ballistic missiles before finally making decisions,” he warned, referring to the Iranian-designed Shahed drones Russia is using.

‘STOP BUYING RUSSIAN OIL’

In recent weeks, the United States has stepped up pressure on NATO countries to tighten energy sanctions on Russia in a bid to curtail its revenues and help end the war with Ukraine – a conflict U.S. President Donald Trump has struggled to bring to a close.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday expressed concern at the Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace earlier in the week.

If it turned out to have been deliberate, “then obviously it will be… highly escalatory,” he told reporters in Washington.

Trump’s suggestion on Thursday that the incident might have happened by “mistake”, was quickly dismissed by Tusk.

On Saturday, Trump returned to the issue of sanctions against Russia, putting the ball back in the court of his NATO allies.

“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Trump has repeatedly threatened sanctions against Russia without following through.

With inputs from agencies

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