Ukraine attacked Russian refineries and oil facilities with drones in order to thus complement the international sanctions whose impact until now has been limited. In turn, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, ruled out a preemptive nuclear strike in the short term but warned countries supplying weapons to Ukraine that Russia could do the same with North Korea.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is behind the attacks that Fires started at two fuel depots in Russia on Thursday nightin the Tambov region and in Adygea, reported the Ukrainian public broadcaster, Suspilne, local Russian authorities confirmed on Telegram.
Both facilities process and store materials used by the Russian Army, an anonymous SBU source told Ukrainian media.
“Enemy resources”
“The attacks by the Security Service of Ukraine on companies working in the military industry of the Russian Federation reduce the resources that the enemy can use to wage war and force the aggressor country to spend on the restoration of infrastructure,” he stressed.
According to Suspilne, the SBU has already carried out almost 30 successful attacks in various regions of Russiawhile drones from Ukraine’s military intelligence (GRU) have also carried out similar attacks.
The source stated that Ukraine will continue its attacks on the Russian oil industry to increase the burden on Russia’s budget, which is “already suffering due to sanctions and other economic challenges.”
For now, however, Russia is only experiencing “some small difficulties” in its oil markets, as it has no problems with diesel availability and only limited problems with gasoline, the source said. Due to the attacks, Russia would have lost around 12% of its refining capacity at the end of March, according to the head of the SBU, Vasim Maliuk.
Supplement sanctions
After what the SBU will attack an oil base in Azov Earlier this week, an anonymous source called the attacks “drone sanctions.” It thus suggests that the attacks complement and, to some extent, are even more effective than the current sanctions of the G7 countries and the European Union (EU) against the Russian economy, introduced after it launched its invasion of Ukraine 848 days ago. .
According to the KSE InstituteRussia has lost about €116.6 billion in oil export revenue since February 2022. However, problems enforcing sanctions can raise revenues to 181 billion euros in 2024 and 175.3 billion in 2025, its analysts warn.
Shipping companies from the United Arab Emirates, China and Greece help Russia transport its oil to India, China and Turkey, which remain the main importers, according to the KSE. Russian shadow fleet operations, using old and unsecured tankers, are thriving despite sanctions.
Bypass restrictions and keep Export volumes allow Russia to sell most of its oil at prices higher than those provided by the caps introduced by the West.
Russia’s oil revenues are expected to decline following the introduction of the 14th sanctions package, agreed by EU member states on Thursday, which also includes restrictions on the transfer of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) into European ports.
North Korea
In response to the offensive by kyiv and its allies, Putin did not rule out supplying weapons to North Korea on Thursday. “We reserve the right to supply weapons to other regions of the world. And I do not rule this out either in view of our agreement with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”Putin said during a press conference at the end of his visit to Vietnam, broadcast on Russian public television.
Putin assured that “Westerners provide weapons to Ukraine and from then on they say they no longer control anything, and it doesn’t matter how they are used”. “Well, we can also say that we have supplied something to someone and then we don’t take responsibility for anything,” she said.
Regarding the mutual assistance agreement in case of aggression signed this Wednesday with Pyongyang, Putin downplayed it, arguing that it is nothing new. “We have signed this agreement because the old one has ceased to exist. And in the previous agreement of 1961 it was all the same, there is nothing new,” he stated.
Although he admitted that “in the current context this seems something extraordinary,” he added that “we have hardly changed anything” and that the situation in the world requires legally strengthening relations with Russia’s partners, especially in Asia.
South Korea “does not have to worry, since our military aid under the agreement we signed only arises if aggression is committed in relation to one of the signatories of the document. As far as I know, the Republic of Korea does not plans aggression against North Korea,” he said. Putin also called some of the sanctions adopted against the North Korean communist regime “inhumane” and called for their lifting.
Putin stressed that, in reality, the agreement he signed with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, will be “a deterrent factor so that the (Korean) crisis” does not translate into an armed conflict. And, in response to a reporter’s question, he ruled out the possible deployment of North Korean soldiers to the Ukrainian battlefield.
The signing of the mutual assistance agreement between Russia and North Korea has caused great unrest in Seoul, but also in the United States and Japan.
Nuclear doctrine
Regarding the nuclear issue, Vladimir Putin ruled out the inclusion of the preventive strike in Russia’s new nuclear doctrine by expressing the certainty that Moscow would give a devastating response to those who attack it with strategic weapons.
“At the moment, we do not need a preemptive strike, because the enemy will inevitably be destroyed during a retaliatory attack”he stated in a press conference at the end of his visit to Vietnam broadcast on Russian public television.
Asked what could be the changes to Russian nuclear doctrine that he referred to during his speech at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Putin indicated that they would be related to attempts by potential adversaries to “reduce the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.” .
“We know that among Western experts there are ideas of certain types of nuclear weapons that could be used and that would not be something particularly serious. It may not be serious. But we are obliged to pay attention to that. And we do,” he pointed.
“Russian strategic nuclear forces are always on alert. Therefore, we are little concerned about what Western countries do now but, naturally, we observe carefully,” he said, noting that “They increase the tension, they escalate the situation, apparently they hope that at some point we will get scared.”
“This means the end of the millennia-long history of the Russian state. I think this is understandable for everyone. And then the question arises, why be afraid? Isn’t it better to go to the end then? “, she settled. “I want to ask: why do we need a world in which Russia does not exist?”
