Ukrainian drones are flying deep into Russia to strike oil facilities, sending up plumes of smoke that can be seen from space and bringing toxic rain to tourist destinations on the Black Sea.
The attacks are aimed at slashing Moscow’s oil exports, a key source of funding for its grinding invasion of Ukraine. But the economic impact is so far unclear, as the rise in oil prices from the Iran war, and a related easing US sanctions, have helped replenish the Kremlin’s coffers.
Still, the range of the attacks and their environmental impact is bringing the war home to ordinary Russians far from the front lines.
Ukrainian drones have hit the oil refinery and export terminal in the Black Sea town of Tuapse on four occasions in just over two weeks, sparking fires that prompted local evacuations and sent up massive plumes of smoke.
The town is roughly 450 kilometres (280 miles) from the front lines.
In a video posted by local Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev after the third attack on April 18, an emergency official said boiling oil products had spilled onto the street, damaging cars.
Ukraine said Thursday that it hit an oil pumping station in Russia’s Perm region, more than 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) from Ukraine, two days in a row.
Russian media reported the attacks, though Perm Gov. Dmitry Makhonin said only that drones had hit industrial facilities.
Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea, one of Russia’s largest oil and gas export terminals, was hit three times in the space of a week in late March. It is more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away from Ukraine.
In a broadcast several weeks later, regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko declared that the area around St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, was a “front-line region” due to aerial threats.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has compared such strikes to the international sanctions on Russia.
They are seen as even more crucial now that Moscow is collecting windfall pofits from the global energy crisis linked to Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Zelenskyy said Friday that Russia has lost at least $7 billion since the start of the year as a direct result of attacks on its oil sector.
Earlier in the week, he said Ukrainian intelligence indicates a drop in exports from key oil ports such as Ust-Luga and Primorsk.
Drone strikes have also disrupted Russia’s oil refining capacities, while sanctions make it difficult to acquire replacement parts, experts say.
