The Russian Defense Ministry announced the "taking control" of the Lisichansk oil refinery (refinery). As a source in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine told The Insider, the Lisichansk Oil Refinery no longer exists as an enterprise, it is used only as a territory of military operations and a defense area, now there are battles in the area of the plant.
The ambassador of the "LPR" in Russia, Rodion Miroshnik , told the newspaper "Vzglyad" that this plant is important both from a military and economic point of view, it has warehouses with fuel and lubricants burials:
“Lysichansk is a large industrial city with many factories. And militants can still cling to these territories. Taking control of the refinery is a significant event from both a military and an economic point of view. The Lisichansk oil refinery is a large enterprise with great opportunities for shelter. In addition, there are warehouses with burials of fuels and lubricants. Over the past years, this plant has not worked, mainly for political reasons.”
The Lisichansk oil refinery will be able to provide oil products "not only to the Donbass, but also to the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia," Sergei Gorokhov, chairman of the board of directors of the Marshal group of companies (LNR), told Izvestiya.
In 2013, Rosneft became the main owner of the Lisichansk Refinery, the company planned to restart the plant in the summer of 2014. In 2020, the head of the now liquidated pro-Russian party Opposition Platform – For Life, Viktor Medvedchuk, stated that the refinery could be launched before August 2021, and his party would undertake to resume the work of the plant. The capacity of the Lisichansk Refinery is about 7 million tons of crude oil, it is capable of producing Euro-4 standard fuel, as well as batches of Euro-5 standard diesel fuel. In December 2017, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine allowed the Swiss Glusko Energy SA to buy the Lisichansk Oil Investment Company (which manages the Lisichansk Oil Refinery).
Earlier in June, Chairman of the Board of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Yuriy Vitrenko said that the entire oil refining sector of Ukraine had stopped working due to Russian attacks: “All oil refining in Ukraine is now not working due to the massive attacks of the aggressor, and it is difficult to ensure the logistics of oil products to the Ukrainian market , due to which there is a shortage of them.