On Friday, Kyiv struck an oil depot, the latest attack on such facilities as it sought to inflict damage far from the front , which has largely fallen into a stalemate.
Ukraine struck an oil terminal in Russia in attack on Friday, officials from both sides said, the latest in a series of recent attacks on Russian oil facilities as Kyiv increasingly seeks to strike critical infrastructure behind Russian lines.
The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, Oleksandr Bogomaz, said oil tanks in the town of Klintsy caught fire after a drone dropped ammunition on a warehouse. The drone, he added, was shot down by electronic jamming. A Ukrainian intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, said Ukraine was behind the attack.
Friday's attack was the fourth in three weeks on a Russian oil facility, which experts say is an attempt by Ukraine to harm Russia's military capabilities by targeting facilities that supply fuel for tanks, fighter jets and other critical military equipment.
“Strikes against oil depots and storage facilities disrupt logistical routes and slow down combat operations,” said Olena Lapenko, an energy security expert at DiXi Group, a Ukrainian think tank. “Disrupting these supplies, which are like blood to the human body, is part of a broader strategy to counter Russia on the battlefield.”.
The attacks are unlikely to have a significant impact on the overall state of the fighting, in which Russia has been on the offensive for the past few months. But they remain important for Ukraine, which is looking for ways to inflict damage away from the front lines, which have largely fallen into a stalemate. Lacking sufficient weapons and troops to regain the initiative on the ground, Kyiv has increasingly resorted to guerrilla tactics to disrupt Russian operations, including sabotage of rail infrastructure and ammunition depots.
Ukraine’s Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshyn said Thursday that an “asymmetric war” was underway. He claimed responsibility for the attack on an oil storage facility in St. Petersburg on Thursday, which he said involved a domestically produced drone that flew 1,250 kilometers, or about 775 miles.
“I am sure that this year we will see more and more things,” Mr. Kamyshin said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
While the attack on St. Petersburg appeared to cause no serious damage, images from the Klintsy oil depot showed a large fire raging among several tanks. Russia's state news agency TASS reported that the fire covered an area of about 1,000 square meters, or about 10,700 square feet, and that four gasoline tanks were burning.
Mr. Bogomaz, the Russian governor, said on social media that more than 140 firefighters were trying to put out the blaze. He posted a video showing them spraying water on blackened oil tanks, from which huge plumes of black smoke were rising.
Energy infrastructure has been a major theater of war. Last winter, Russia struck Ukrainian energy facilities with drones and missiles, plunging Ukrainians into cold and darkness in what was seen as Moscow’s attempt to weaponize winter and demoralize the population. Ukraine managed to withstand the assault thanks to Western-supplied air defense systems and engineers working around the clock to repair vital equipment.
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Ukraine has, on a smaller scale, targeted Russian oil and gas infrastructure since the beginning of the conflict. But the recent surge in attacks may indicate that energy infrastructure has now become a critical target for Kyiv.
Two other drone attacks, on December 29 and January 9, caused fires at an oil refinery in southwestern Russia in Krasnodar Krai and at a fuel plant in Orel , a town near Klintsy. In both cases, the Ukrainian military claimed responsibility in Ukrainian media.
By targeting oil facilities, Ukraine is not only trying to cut off supplies to the Russian military, but is also targeting assets that generate significant revenues to support Moscow's military efforts.
Ms. Lapenko, an energy security expert, said Moscow had earned more than $400 billion from oil exports since the war began. Russia has partially circumvented international sanctions by using alternative financial services and even investing in a “shadow” fleet to secretly export its oil.
"We see that the imposed sanctions are not effective enough, so the aggressor still receives enough funds to wage war," said Ms. Lapenko.
In addition to the strikes on oil facilities, Kyiv has carried out at least four attacks on electrical substations since September, some of which have resulted in power outages for civilians, according to Russian local authorities. The Ukrainian military says it is only attacking energy facilities directly related to Russia's military campaign.
Several Ukrainian officials have said in recent months that Ukraine will respond to Moscow's attacks on critical infrastructure.
“Let them start. They will also get a response,” Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, told The Economist in September, adding that his services were working on a limited campaign of deterrence and retaliation.
