Ukraine drone strikes hit Russian refineries as Putin admits fuel deficit

Ukraine struck two Russian refineries in overnight drone attacks, setting one ablaze in Krasnodar. The strikes deepened fuel shortages in Russia and forced Vladimir Putin to acknowledge a deficit.

In Short

• A Slavyansk refinery fire followed falling drone debris, killing one resident
• Zelenskyy said overnight attacks also struck a refinery in Yaroslavl region
• Fuel shortages have caused queues, rationing and export reviews across Russia

Ukraine kept up its heavy drone attacks on Russia on Sunday, setting fire to a major oil refinery in the south, as President Vladimir Putin publicly acknowledged for the first time that the country was facing a "certain deficit" of fuel. He said Russia would strengthen protection for oil facilities and increase fuel production.

The latest strikes came as Ukraine has sharply increased long-range attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities in recent months, seeking to cut Moscow's revenue for its invasion, now in its fifth year, and bring the effects of the war home to Russians. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said two refineries were hit, while Putin said the attacks were aimed at splitting Russian society and forcing Moscow into talks on terms favourable to Kyiv.

"Our long-range sanctions' reached two oil refineries in Russia," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Sunday. "Each (strike) means a reduction in the resources that fuel the Russian war machine, and another step toward peace." According to Western analysts, the campaign has also slowed Moscow's battlefield efforts and increased pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate. Inside Russia, it has strained fuel supplies, led to shortages and long queues at petrol stations, and pushed authorities in several regions to introduce rationing.

Speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, Putin said the attacks on oil refineries were meant to "cause a split in Russian society and force Russia to halt, even if only briefly, the advance of our troops along the line of contact, and create conditions for launching a negotiation process on terms advantageous to our adversary." He added, "We will not give them that chance," and said that "strikes on our infrastructure, wherever they are directed, have absolutely no effect on the situation at the front, on the line of contact."

Putin also said for the first time that Ukraine had proposed a halt to deep strikes, arguing that Kyiv made the offer because Russian strikes deep inside Ukrainian territory were more powerful and destructive. He said Ukraine had also proposed limiting the fighting to the four regions that Russia annexed but never fully captured - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Putin said he rejected the proposal because it would allow Ukraine to move troops from other areas to reinforce those regions.

Meanwhile, debris from downed Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at a refinery in Slavyansk-na-Kubani in Russia's Krasnodar region, east of occupied Crimea, regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said. Local authorities said the falling debris killed one person in Slavyansk and wounded another in a nearby village. According to the operator's website, the refinery processes close to 4 million tonnes of crude a year and is a major source of export petroleum products through Russia's Black Sea ports, including fuel oil, naphtha and marine fuel.

Zelenskyy also said another Russian refinery in the Yaroslavl region, about 700 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, was hit in the overnight strikes. There were no immediate reports from Russian authorities on that refinery. Yaroslavl Governor Mikhail Evraev said on Sunday morning that some roads between Moscow and Yaroslavl were temporarily closed because of "an enemy attack by Ukrainian drones."

For months, Ukraine has been stepping up attacks on energy facilities deep inside Russia. More recently, it has tried to disrupt fuel deliveries to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Moscow in early 2014. Last weekend, Kremlin-installed officials in Crimea suspended petrol sales to civilians after attacks on supply routes triggered what the report described as the peninsula's worst energy crisis since the annexation.

At a meeting with officials on the fuel situation, Putin said Russia was "going through a difficult period," but insisted that Moscow would "honor all its social obligations." He later said on state TV that Russia's arms industry would quickly increase production of air defence systems to counter Ukrainian attacks. Putin also said Russia would import more fuel and speed up repairs at oil facilities to end the "temporary deficit." "All damaged facilities are being restored quite quickly, and the issues that arise are not critical," he said. He also promised quick action to address shortages in Crimea, saying fuel deliveries by land and sea would increase and adding that he was confident "this task will be accomplished."

As the shortages spread, Irkutsk region Governor Igor Kobzev said drivers in the Siberian region would be allowed to buy no more than 50 litres of fuel per vehicle per day at state-run Rosneft petrol stations, while other pumps could set lower limits. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow was actively reviewing fuel export agreements to avoid hurting domestic supplies.

Elsewhere on Sunday, a Russian aerial bomb killed two people in Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine and injured 16 others, including two children, according to regional administration head Ivan Fedorov. In Russia's Belgorod border region, acting Governor Alexander Shuvayev said Ukrainian drone strikes killed one person and injured another earlier in the day. Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces shot down 213 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russia, occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov seas. Ukraine's air force said Russia attacked with 142 long-range strike drones and eight missiles overnight, and that 125 drones and seven missiles were shot down.

The latest exchange underlined the widening impact of the war, with Ukraine pressing deep strikes on Russian energy targets, Russia dealing with fuel shortages at home, and both sides reporting fresh deaths and injuries from bomb, missile and drone attacks.

With PTI Inputs

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