Pentagon: Ukrainian attacks disabled 14% of Russia's oil refining capacity

FPV drone in action. Photo from open sources

Since the beginning of this year, drone strikes on Russia's energy infrastructure, organized by Ukraine, have disabled 14% of the country's oil refining capacity and provoked an increase in domestic fuel prices.

This was announced in the intelligence department of the Pentagon, reports Bloomberg.

The loss of some of Russia's oil refining capacity led to a 20-30% increase in domestic prices by mid-March and also caused exports to be halted to focus on meeting domestic demand, according to an assessment by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, outlined in a report by Inspector General Robert Storch, who carries out control with the help of Ukraine.

«To mitigate the consequences of these strikes, Russia banned the export of gasoline for six months starting in March, began importing petroleum products from Belarus, planned to import from Kazakhstan, and also prioritized the transportation of petroleum products by Russian railways over other modes of transport,» it says. in a Pentagon report.

Although the attacks on Russian oil refineries are aimed at depleting the Russian Armed Forces' fuel supplies and export earnings, the United States has criticized them as posing a risk to global oil prices.

The published analysis covers only a two-month period — from the first strike on January 21 at the PJSC Novatek plant in Ust-Luga to the March 24 attack on the power plant in Novocherkassk.

At the same time, the Pentagon noted that Ukrainian strikes on energy facilities in Russia «led to a minor failure in the supply of electricity to the Russian military and civilian population.» The department explained this by the fact that the Russian Federation has reliable generating capacity, which is the third largest in the world, and a high degree of redundancy in its network.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the refineries attacked by Ukrainian drones account for 12% of Russia's oil refining capacity.