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Russian refineries burn as Ukraine’s cities go dark ahead of a cold winter and amid global worries over energy prices.
The attacks take place just weeks after Kyiv and Moscow were believed to be on the verge of an agreement to halt infrastructure attacks, diplomats and officials said. Instead, the two sides have resumed bombarding each other’s power plants and fuel refineries, in an escalatory struggle that in addition to its international effects could lead to a bleak winter for Ukraine.
The attacks also come as Ukraine has been pushing for a lifting of the restrictions on the long-range weapons it has received from its Western partners so it can hit more targets inside Russia, especially the staging grounds for the aerial onslaughts.
“The weaponry that we are providing to Ukraine has to have full use, and the restrictions have to be lifted in order for the Ukrainians to be able to target the places where Russia is bombing them. Otherwise, the weaponry is useless,” Borrell said.
Kuleba also pushed for speedier deliveries of promised equipment, especially air defenses, as Ukraine spent the week being hammered by Russian missiles and drones.
“Since April, when we made a plea for the delivery of more Patriot systems, good progress has been made and announcements were made … but again, some Patriot systems were announced and not delivered yet,” he said.
Ukrainian special forces and members of the main military intelligence directorate, the GUR, launched attacks overnight on oil depots in Russia’s central Kirov region, some 900 miles from the Ukrainian-Russian border, and the southwestern Rostov region, the army’s general staff said in a post on Facebook. An arms depot for field artillery in the southwestern Voronezh region was also hit.
“A fire broke out” at the Rostov depot, which required the use of fire teams to extinguish, the statement said, without making clear what weapons were used or the extent of damage at the Kirov depot. The Washington Post could not verify the details.
“The defense forces continue to take all measures to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian occupiers and stop Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine,” the statement added.
Ukrainian forces have been using their growing fleet of long-range one-way attack drones to strike targets deep within Russia in recent months — including a recent attack on Moscow.
Rostov Gov. Vasily Golubev said on Telegram that four drones were shot down over his region, and local Telegram channels confirmed a fire at the depot.
Kirov Gov. Alexander Sololov said an oil depot in the town of Kotelnich had been attacked, but without damage. “Everything is under control,” he wrote on Telegram.
Russian forces attacked Ukraine overnight on Thursday with 74 one-way drones and five missiles, the Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram — of which 60 drones and two missiles were shot down and 14 “fell on the territory of Ukraine.”
It was precisely these kinds of attacks that secret negotiations, set to take place this month, were supposed to stop. But exclusive Washington Post reporting revealed that they were scuppered by Ukraine’s move into the Russian province of Kursk.
Ukrainian and Russian officials deny that the talks — which were supposed to take place in Qatar, with officials from the host country shuttling between the two sides — were in fact a reality.
But the resumption of energy infrastructure attacks spells an escalation of hostilities that could have increasingly adverse effects. Ukraine strikes on Russia’s oil facilities — setting ablaze refineries, depots and reservoirs — have reduced Moscow’s oil refining by an estimated 15 percent and raising gas prices around the world.
WASHINGTON POST