Ukraine hit two fuel tankers overnight offshore Russia’s southern coast in an expanding campaign to deepen the fuel crisis in Russia.
The two tankers were hit in Taganrog Bay, the northeastern arm of the Sea of Azov in the southern Russian Rostov region.
Yury Slyusar, the governor of the region of Rostov, posted on Telegram early on Thursday that two tankers were hit in the Taganrog Bay. The vessels suffered “mechanical damage” and caught fire, while no injuries or casualties were reported by the Russian authorities.
The hits on the two tankers, which were en route to deliver fuel to southern Russia, which is reeling from shortages, suggest the expanding scope of Ukraine’s attacks on Russian fuel supply infrastructure.
Ukraine is now targeting fuel supply routes and vessels, alongside a persistent campaign to hit Russian refineries and force them out of operation.
Earlier this week, Ukraine hit Russia’s biggest refinery, Gazprom Neft’s Omsk refinery, which halted operations after a Ukrainian drone strike damaged key processing units at the 440,000-barrel-per-day facility. The refinery is Russia’s largest gasoline producer, making the timing particularly painful for the Kremlin.
The latest strike comes as Ukraine continues expanding its long-range drone campaign against Russia’s refining network. What began with attacks on export terminals and refineries near the front has steadily moved deeper into Russian territory. Omsk, in western Siberia, sits thousands of kilometers from Ukraine.
The strike is another blow to Russia, where the fuel crisis is in full swing, with even Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledging there is a problem after regional authorities tried to downplay the issue for weeks.
Two weeks ago, Putin said that following the temporary ban on exports of gasoline and jet fuel, “We are considering a full ban on exports of diesel fuels.”
The ban on diesel exports is now a fact, as of Wednesday, amid the incessant Ukrainian campaign to slash fuel supply in Russia.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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