Ukraine is targeting Russian energy infrastructure with its growing fleet of long-range drones and missiles, causing fuel shortages in one of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers and embarrassing President Vladimir Putin.
In dozens of strikes since this spring, Ukraine has pounded oil refineries across its larger neighbor, hitting all of Russia’s 10 biggest plants, based on capacity figures from S&P Global Energy. More than one-quarter of Russian refining capacity has been knocked offline, analysts estimate.
Plumes of smoke from burning refineries have been spotted from space, as well as in viral social-media videos shared by Russians despite an official ban on distributing footage of the aftermath of drone strikes. Kyiv’s drones have hit targets as far away as the Siberian city of Omsk, about 1,500 miles from Ukraine.