Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv steps up attacks on Putin’s oil network in defiance of Western allies
Ukraine is continuing its attacks on Russian oil infrastructure despite calls from the West seeking to end such strikes.
Russian officials on Sunday said Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery operated by Lukoil and a Baltic pipeline near St Petersburg. The governor of Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region said air defence units had repelled a 30-drone barrage.
Last week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that some allies have signalled for Ukraine to reduce long-range strikes on Russia’s oil sector due to rising global energy prices.
Zelensky said he would be happy to do so – but only if Russia reciprocates by stopping its own attacks on the Ukrainian grid.
The Institute for the Study of War said Ukraine had noticeably stepped up its attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure, “focusing on the Russian Baltic Sea port and oil infrastructure in Leningrad oblast critical to Russian oil exports”.
The attacks include three strikes targeting Primorsk port infrastructure in the space of just two weeks.
