Ukraine's drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure earlier this year knocked out 14% of the country's oil refining capacity and drove up fuel prices inside Russia but had minimal impact on electricity production.< /p>
This is stated in the Pentagon intelligence report, which was published on Thursday by the inspector general overseeing US aid to Ukraine, writes Bloomberg.
Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries
As the newspaper notes, the loss of part of Russian oil refining capacity led to a rise in domestic prices by 20-30% by mid-March and caused a halt in exports to focus on meeting domestic demand, according to an assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency.
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— To mitigate the impact of these blows, Russia banned gasoline exports for six months starting in March, began importing petroleum products from Belarus, planned to import from Kazakhstan, and prioritized the supply of petroleum products via Russian Railways as opposed to other modes of transport, — says the report.
Ukraine, in its fight against Russia, is increasingly striking at targets on Russian territory. And although these attacks on oil refineries are aimed at reducing the income of the Russian army from fuel sales and exports, the United States has previously criticized them as creating a risk for world oil prices.
The publication indicates that attacks on refineries are ongoing, and the Pentagon intelligence analysis only covers a two-month period — from the first strike on January 21 at the Novatek PJSC plant in Ust-Luga to the strike on the power plant in Novocherkassk on March 24.
Attacks on power facilities “led to a minor disruption of the power supply to the Russian military and civilian population”, since “Russia has powerful generation — third largest in the world — and a high degree of redundancy of the power system”.
Strikes on the Russian fleet
In addition, the Pentagon report states that Ukrainian strikes on the Russian Black Sea Fleet using unmanned aerial vehicles “changed the pattern of operations of the Russian Navy”.
Thus, the Russian Black Sea Fleet began to avoid the Ukrainian coast and moved some ships from its main base in occupied Sevastopol, Crimea.
