Ukraine has hit an oil terminal in Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, the Ukrainian Army said on Monday.
The Ukrainians also struck an explosives manufacturing plant in Dzerzhinsk, in the Nizhny Novgorod region in Russia.
The Ukrainian army hit the Marine Oil Terminal in Feodosia, Crimea. A massive fire at the terminal erupted as a result of the successful hit, the army said on its Telegram channel.
The Marine Oil Terminal is a trans-shipment complex for oil and oil products from railway tank cars to vessels and vice versa, and provides fuel to Russia’s army, the Ukrainian army said.
Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in recent weeks. Major refineries are out of service due to drone strikes while the Ust-Luga complex and export port on the Russian Baltic Sea, is still recovering from a major strike at the end of August.
Russia’s government plans to boost fuel imports from Belarus and import gasoline from China, Singapore, and South Korea to address falling domestic output and gasoline shortages in several regions after a wave of drone attacks crippled the Russian refining capacity.
Russia’s gasoline and diesel supply has been crippled in recent weeks by intensified attacks on refineries with Ukrainian drones, which at one point curtailed 40% of Russia’s refining capacity.
Russia has not commented on the extent of the damage done by Ukrainian drones, but various reports have said that at least 10 refineries have been targeted with drones by Ukraine, and some of them have sustained damages and had to temporarily halt crude intake.
The Ukrainian attacks could also force Russian oil producers to reduce output. State pipeline firm Transneft, which handles more than 80% of all the crude oil pumped in Russia, has warned producers that it may have to accept lower volumes on its system, industry sources close to Russian oil producers told Reuters in the middle of September.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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