Ukraine’s military says it struck 21 Russian tankers with drones overnight, the latest blow in a campaign to deprive Russian forces in occupied Ukraine of fuel. The strikes, announced on Saturday, come as Kyiv intensifies its attacks on Russian shipping – a total of 76 vessels have now been hit in the past week alone.
The attack followed a similar strike on Sunday, when Moscow said a Ukrainian drone hit a Russian tanker as it was entering the canal between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. The governor of Russia’s Rostov region, Yury Slyusar, said on Telegram that the drone strike caused a fire on the vessel but that it had since been contained.
“Ukraine struck 21 Russian tankers overnight, part of campaign to cut fuel to occupied forces.”
Ukraine’s defense forces struck a total of 10 Russian tankers and four ferries in the Sea of Azov, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a Telegram post. They also hit the Syzran oil refinery in Russia’s Samara Oblast and a Russian train carrying fuel and lubricants near the occupied town of Tokmak in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
The attacks came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Kyiv would set up a new military unit instructed to make incursions deep in Russian territory to degrade Moscow’s fighting capabilities. Reports of fuel shortages in Russia have been multiplying as Kyiv has intensified its drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure in recent weeks.
Last week, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had hit oil facilities in Russia’s Saratov region and Tatarstan as part of what he called a “fully justified” retaliation campaign for Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. The strikes led Russia to announce it would halt diesel exports to protect its domestic fuel supply.
The campaign shows no sign of slowing. With each new strike, the pressure on Russia’s fuel supply for its war machine grows – and the consequences for its economy at home mount.
