- Multiple oil and gas facilities in Russia have been set on fire in recent suspected drone attacks, with videos of the fires circulating on social media.
- Ukraine is believed to be targeting these energy infrastructure sites to disrupt Russia’s supply lines and military operations.
- The attacks aim to damage Russia’s lucrative oil and gas industry and demonstrate Ukraine’s ability to hit targets deeper inside Russian territory using domestically produced drones. Russia’s air defense systems are struggling to detect and intercept small drones, making them less effective against this type of threat.
Additional Coverage:
- Ukraine appears to be attacking Russia’s oil and gas industry with small, cheap drones that can bypass its air defenses (businessinsider.com)
Several oil and gas facilities in Russia have been set on fire in recent weeks in suspected drone attacks. It appears that Ukraine is targeting these energy infrastructure sites to disrupt Russian supply lines. One reason for the success of these attacks is that Russia’s air defense systems are less effective against small drones.
Fires have occurred at multiple energy infrastructure locations in Russia, including a Rosneft oil refinery in Tuapse, a Rosneft storage facility in Klintsy, and Novatek’s Baltic Sea Ust-Luga terminal. Videos on social media have shown the fires at the Tuapse and Klintsy facilities.
The motive behind Ukraine’s targeting of these facilities is likely to disrupt Russia’s military operations. Olena Lapenko, an energy security expert at the Ukrainian think tank DiXi Group, explained that striking oil depots and storage facilities disrupts logistics routes and slows down combat operations. This disruption is part of Ukraine’s broader strategy to counter Russia on the battlefield.
In addition to disrupting military operations, the attacks aim to damage Russia’s lucrative oil and gas industry, which has been relatively unaffected by Western economic sanctions. Lapenko highlighted that Moscow has made over $400 billion from oil exports since the war began in 2022.
The attack on the Baltic Ust-Luga terminal, combined with adverse weather conditions, has contributed to a decline in Russia’s seaborne crude shipments to their lowest level in nearly two months.
If confirmed, the attacks would demonstrate that Ukraine can hit targets deeper inside Russian territory than usual using domestically produced drones. In a bold move, Ukraine allegedly flew a drone over President Vladimir Putin’s palace during an attack on a St. Petersburg oil depot.
Russia’s air defense systems have struggled to detect and intercept small drones, making them less effective against this type of threat. These systems were primarily designed to identify and destroy larger targets like missiles, helicopters, and aircraft, rather than smaller unmanned drones.
Ukraine’s approach to drone warfare, known as “bringing the detonator,” involves the use of small, low-cost drones with minimal explosive loads. Even a small amount of explosives delivered directly to the target can cause a secondary explosion that can destroy the target.
Overall, Ukraine’s drone attacks are causing significant disruptions to Russia’s oil and gas industry and military operations. The effectiveness of these attacks highlights the shortcomings of Russia’s air defense systems against small drones.