Ukraine initiated a series of strikes against Russian oil facilities on Sunday, targeting a crucial loading port on the Baltic Sea and two tankers allegedly utilized for illicit transport of Russian oil. A nighttime drone strike ignited a fire at Primorsk, Russia’s largest oil exporting port on the Baltic Sea, as confirmed by Russian regional Governor Alexander Drozdenko.
The port, managed by Russia’s state oil company Transneft, has the capacity to process hundreds of thousands of barrels daily. Situated more than 1,000 kilometers away from Ukraine, Primorsk lies between the Russian-Finnish border and St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city. Although Drozdenko mentioned that the drone strike did not result in an oil spill, no immediate details were provided regarding casualties or damage.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine stated that Ukrainian forces successfully targeted military installations and inflicted significant harm on the oil port infrastructure. Zelenskyy shared in a Telegram post that another Russian vessel carrying Kalibr missiles was disabled, with Major General Yevhen Khmara overseeing the destruction of targets at the Primorsk port.
Zelenskyy also mentioned that Ukrainian drones struck a Karakurt missile ship, a patrol boat, and a tanker linked to Russia’s clandestine oil fleet used to circumvent Western sanctions and price restrictions on Russian energy. Additionally, he announced that Ukrainian forces, led by General Andrii Hnatov, targeted two more tankers from the “shadow fleet” near the entrance of the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
Moscow has not yet responded to Zelenskyy’s assertions regarding the strikes. Kyiv has ramped up its assaults on Russia’s oil export infrastructure, arguing that oil revenue directly contributes to Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year.
In a separate development, Russian drones struck Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, resulting in two fatalities, three injuries, and damage to residential buildings. The attack also caused a fire at port facilities, which was later extinguished by emergency teams. Additionally, nighttime Russian strikes wounded six individuals in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region and damaged a passenger bus carrying 40 children, although no injuries were reported. In Russia, a Ukrainian drone strike near Moscow resulted in the death of a 77-year-old man, with several drones being intercepted in the Moscow region and en route to the capital.
The Russian Defence Ministry reported that 334 Ukrainian UAVs were downed over Russia and occupied Crimea. Conversely, the Ukrainian air force claimed that Russia launched 269 drones and ballistic missiles targeting Ukraine, with Ukrainian forces successfully intercepting and repelling most of the attacks in various locations.
