Russia escalates attacks on Ukrainian energy as drone war intensifies
According to the assessment of the PISM analyst, Russia wants to destroy Ukraine's energy sector by winter. Meanwhile, Ukrainians continue drone attacks on Russian oil depots.
In August alone, Ukrainians attacked Russian oil depots at least three times. On August 18, drones caused a significant fire in Proletarsk in the Rostov region. Five days later, they renewed the attack. Two days earlier, drones targeted a depot in the city of Salsk, located about 30 kilometres from Proletarsk. This facility had already been attacked in May.
As reported by "The Moscow Times," another oil depot in the Rostov region is now in flames after a nighttime drone attack. Although the area governor did not mention the oil depot in his Telegram post, "Moscow Times" refers to a video showing a pillar of black smoke.
In May, Ukrainian drones destroyed fuel infrastructure to prevent supplies to the front. Ukraine was causing another fuel crisis for Russia. Even then, strikes on refineries had reduced refinery capacity by various estimates, from 4% to as much as 7% of fuel production. Prices at stations had increased by 25%. The Kremlin had already had to limit fuel sales to external markets to ensure enough fuel for rising domestic needs.
Russians targeting Ukrainian energy sector
Fuel and energy infrastructure are high on the target list on both sides of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. On Monday morning, 15 regions of Ukraine were under massive Russian missile fire. The attack was primarily aimed at energy infrastructure.
Maria Piechowska, an analyst for Ukraine in the Eastern Europe program at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, assessed that Russia's attacks on Ukraine will undoubtedly continue. According to her, this is partly due to Ukrainians' ability to continually rebuild the country, especially with the help of partners, including Poland. She assessed that the Ukrainian government must protect cities and cannot move all air defence systems to the front where they are more needed.
Russia has a "dual goal - on the one hand, to burden the Ukrainian air defence system, on the other hand, to wear down Ukrainians with the war, creating a difficult situation where it will simply be hard to live," the expert said. For this reason - she emphasized - Russia wants to destroy Ukraine's energy sector by winter.
