Kyiv (BN24) – Ukraine has escalated its campaign of drone warfare deep inside Russian territory, striking oil refineries, fuel terminals and export infrastructure in a direct assault on the most critical sector of President Vladimir Putin’s economy. The coordinated attacks have ignited massive fires, disrupted fuel supplies and underscored Kyiv’s resolve to weaken Moscow’s war machine even as U.S.-backed peace talks loom.
According to Ukrainian officials and independent energy analysts, at least 10 major oil processing plants and terminals were targeted in the past month, knocking out nearly 17 percent of Russia’s refining capacity—roughly 1.1 million barrels per day. The drone strikes have already led to gasoline shortages across southern Russia, occupied parts of Ukraine, and even as far as Russia’s Far East, forcing drivers to queue for hours and switch to higher-priced fuel grades.
“This is a big hit to our family budget. It’s really noticeable,” said Svetlana Bazhanova, a resident of Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea, where fuel shortages have left motorists scrambling.
Fires continued to burn Monday at Russia’s Novoshakhtinsk refinery following a Ukrainian drone strike, while facilities owned by major energy giants such as Rosneft and Lukoil have also been damaged in the Rostov, Samara, Saratov, Krasnodar and Volgograd regions. Attacks have additionally hit the Druzhba pipeline and Novatek’s massive Ust-Luga export terminal on the Baltic Sea.
The refinery assaults come at a sensitive moment. Russia is experiencing peak seasonal demand for gasoline driven by farmers and summer tourism, further straining supply. Even before the latest attacks, Moscow had tightened its gasoline export ban in July to cope with domestic demand spikes. Long lines at fueling stations in Vladivostok highlighted the growing crisis, with local officials blaming shortages on the influx of tourists.
Analysts say Ukraine’s strikes serve multiple purposes: directly undermining Russia’s ability to fund its war through oil revenues, raising the cost of Moscow’s military campaign, and challenging perceptions that Kyiv is losing ground as President Donald Trump and Putin discuss potential peace deals.
Russia remains the world’s second-largest oil exporter, and crude flows have been redirected largely to China and India as Western sanctions cut off European markets. Washington has pressured Beijing and New Delhi to scale back purchases, but Moscow’s discounted oil has kept revenue flowing. Still, the damage to refining capacity risks pushing up costs at home just as the Kremlin boosts defense spending by 25 percent—the highest level since the Cold War.
“The affected refineries have lost only part of their capacity, but this could still create serious disruptions for domestic fuel supplies,” said Sergei Vakulenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and former executive at Gazprom Neft.
Despite sanctions and military pressure, Russia has managed to sustain its war economy, producing record numbers of artillery and weapons. Yet growth has slowed, and the strikes highlight the vulnerability of its energy infrastructure to long-range Ukrainian drones.
The conflict has increasingly become a war of attrition, with both Moscow and Kyiv extending the battlefield beyond the front lines. For Ukraine, hitting the heart of Russia’s oil network is both a symbolic and strategic move—demonstrating its reach while signaling that any peace deal will come at a price for Putin’s economy.
