Russia has suffered about $100 billion in losses due to Ukraine’s attacks on oil and gas industry facilities, - Sun
Long-range drone strikes on Russian oil and gas facilities have become part of targeted campaign aimed at striking at the "heart" of the Russian economy.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by the British tabloid The Sun.
Military intelligence expert Philip Ingram noted that such attacks not only create problems in the daily lives of Russian citizens, but can also cause fuel shortages, which significantly complicates the Kremlin's ability to wage war against Ukraine.
"Long range drones flying 1000km or more are turning Russia's sprawling oil and gas empire into a chain of infernos," Ingram emphasised.
He added that strikes on oil refineries directly reduce the Kremlin's revenues: before the full-scale invasion, energy exports provided about 40% of the Russian Federation's budget, and now - about 30% despite sanctions.
Ingram also noted that Ukraine's success in such operations was made possible by coordination with Western partners and insiders who helped identify the most vulnerable elements of critical infrastructure.
As reported, according to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian state media acknowledge the shortage of gasoline in Russia but downplay the role of Ukraine's deep strike campaign against oil refineries in causing this shortage. According to Russian media reports, the gasoline shortage in Russia has already affected more than 20 regions
As a reminder, strikes by Ukrainian drones in recent months have disabled at least 17% of the oil refining capacity of Russian refineries, which processed about 1.1 million barrels of oil per day, according to Reuters estimates.
During August, the Novokuybyshevsk refinery (with a processing capacity of 8.3 million tons per year), the Saratov refinery (5.8 million tons), the Volgograd refinery (14.8 million tons), and the Syzran refinery (8.5 million tons) were completely shut down, with total capacity downtime for the month reaching 6.4 million tons. In September, the Ryazan oil refinery, which provides about 5% of Russian refining capacity, was partially shut down.
