Ukraine says it has hit a major Russian oil refinery with long-range drones

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian drones struck a major oil refinery in Russia’s Volgograd region for the second time in almost three months, Ukraine’s general staff said Thursday. Russian officials did not confirm the attack, although the local governor said drones started a fire at an unspecified industrial facility in the region.

Ukraine’s general staff said in a statement that the attack took place the previous day. The refinery is the largest producer of fuel and lubricants in Russia’s Southern Federal District, processing more than 15 million tons of crude annually — about 5.6% of the country’s total refining capacity, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russia and Ukraine have traded almost daily assaults on each other’s energy infrastructure as U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the nearly four-year war make no impact on the battlefield.

Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said foreign countries are helping Kyiv in its efforts to keep the power grid operating amid Russia’s onslaught.

“Practically every day, our power engineers, repair brigades, and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are carrying out restorations on-site after attacks: hits keep occurring across various points, especially in our communities, and especially near the Russian border and close to the front,” Zelenskyy said late Wednesday.

Also, saboteurs inside Russia burned dozens of locomotives in a bid to hamper the logistics of Russia’s armed forces, Ukraine’s military intelligence said Thursday.

The Freedom of Russia group used Molotov cocktails to set fire to the control and power supply systems of dozens of locomotives that transported military cargo, according to a statement from GUR, as the intelligence agency is known.

It was not possible to independently verify the claim, nor did the statement say whether the GUR was involved in the operation. Russian officials offered no immediate comment.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has attempted to strike targets on Russian soil with domestically developed long-range drones.

Ukrainian forces also struck three fuel lubricants facilities in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula and a storage and assembly base for Russia’s Shahed drones in an occupied area of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the general staff statement said.

In the Kostroma region northeast of Moscow, a Ukrainian aerial attack hit unidentified “energy infrastructure facilities,” Gov. Sergei Sitnikov said. There were no casualties and power supplies were not disrupted, he said.

Unconfirmed media reports said the attack targeted a hydroelectric power plant in the Kostroma region, one of the biggest in Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday its air defenses shot down 75 drones overnight over multiple Russian regions and annexed Crimea.

Russia, meantime, attacked the city of Kamianske in Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region with drones overnight, killing one person and injuring eight others, the head of the regional military administration, Vladyslav Haivanenko, said on his official Telegram channel.

Several fires broke out and the roof of a four-story building was partially destroyed, he said.

The Russian military also continued its assault on Ukraine’s rail infrastructure, causing delays and route changes in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk and in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine’s state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said.

Russia attacked Ukraine with 135 drones of various types overnight on Thursday, Ukraine’s air force said.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this image, made from video and provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, Russian soldiers fire a Malka self-propelled gun towards Ukrainian positions on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

FILE - A Ukrainian serviceman of the 14th Separate Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment prepares a long-range drone An-196 Liutyi before takeoff in undisclosed location, Ukraine, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Madison Keys planned to walk into the player tunnel at Rod Laver Arena in a quiet moment when nobody was watching, and take a photo of her name listed with the other champions at the Australian Open.

After beating top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in last year's final at Melbourne Park to win her first Grand Slam title, Keys pictured the moment she'd return to the stadium for the first time as defending champion.

“I’ve always kind of remembered walking through that tunnel and seeing all the names,” she said Friday, two days before the first major of the year starts. “It was a little bit of a pinch-me moment where I was like, ‘Wow, I’m going to be up there.’

“I have not seen my name in the tunnel yet. I hope I can go in there when there’s no one else so I can take a picture and send it to my mom."

Before facing the media in Melbourne, she couldn't help but notice other evidence at the venue of her breakthrough triumph.

“There’s a really cool photo of me holding the trophy," Keys said. “Getting to see those, it’s something you dream of in your career.”

The 30-year-old American said it was easy to look back almost 12 months and think everything worked to perfection, but "also you think about, ‘Wow, I almost lost.’

"I was match point down. So many three-set matches. There were some ugly matches. I think it kind of just makes everything a little bit better just because it wasn’t issue-free.”

Keys won a tune-up tournament in Adelaide in 2025 before ending Sabalenka's 20-match winning streak at the Australian Open. At 29, she was the tournament's oldest first-time women's champion. She also set a record as the player with the longest gap between their first two Grand Slam finals — her first was the 2017 U.S. Open.

The Australian Open victory launched her into a Top 5 ranking the following month. After the breakthrough, though, she was ousted in the French Open quarterfinals, the third round at Wimbledon and had a nervy first-round exit at the U.S. Open. At the season-ending WTA Finals, she lost two group-stage matches.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, admitted Friday that the loss here to Keys last year was tough.

“She played incredible and overplayed me. Took me a little time to recover,” she said. “We had matches after that. I worked on my mistake on those matches.

“Going to this AO, I’m not really focusing on that last year result but of course I would like to do just a little bit better than I did last year!”

Sabalenka, who beat Keys in the quarterfinals last week en route to the Brisbane International title, plays her first-round match Sunday night against Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, a wild-card entry from France.

Keys also lost in the quarterfinals in her title defense in Adelaide earlier this week. But she's taking it in her stride as she prepares for another career first: defending a major title.

“Even though I’ve been on tour for a long time, this is also still my first experience as that,” she said. “I’m really just trying to soak in all of the really cool fun parts."

Seeded ninth and on the other side of the draw from Sabalenka, Keys is scheduled to open against Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine.

“Yes, I’m sure going on court I’m going to be very nervous," she said, "but I don’t think I’ve ever walked on court first round of a Grand Slam and not been nervous.”

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus waves to the crowd after winning the women's final match against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3, at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Madison Keyes of the United States reacts during press conference ahead of the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)