Ukraine needs 'Second World War scale attacks' to affect the Russian military, says former Gazprom executive
Ukrainian officials and analysts have characterised the campaign as a move to undermine the Russian military, both by reducing revenue that could be spent on the war, and by disrupting fuel supplies to the invasion force.Several of the refineries targeted in drone strikes were used to supply fuel to the Russian invasion force, an investigation by campaign group
“ evidence that Ukraine has studied Russian air defences and can now develop tactics to identify weak coverage areas and gaps, to concentrate drone attacks on certain areas, and take advantage of the fact that many key Russian facilities do not have adequate defensive capabilities against such long-range drone strikes,” he toldMoscow recently introduced new mobile defence units to guard against drones – following Ukraine’s example in response to Russian barrages – but this has highlighted that...
Reduced capacity led to a rise in domestic fuel costs and a drop in exports of refined oil products, including a six-month ban on gasoline exports.Sergey Vakulenko, former head of strategy and innovation at Russian fuel giant Gazprom Neft, now at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, estimated that the switch from exporting refined to crude oil as a result of drone attacks could be costing Russia $15 a barrel in revenue – but this was a marginal figure set against typical monthly income.