Ukraine's biggest strike against Russia this year hit crude oil and oil product tanks at Russia's most important oil port of Ust-Luga, as well as cargo equipment, turning the sky over the Baltic port orange. The drones overcame successive echelons of Russian air defense systems covering the Bryansk, Smolensk, Pskov and St. Petersburg regions in their 1,000-kilometer flight before achieving what appeared to be direct hits, The Telegraph reported, quoted by UNIAN.
The second strike on a key oil facility in as many days was not only a shameful failure for Russian defense. As the flames raged at the terminal, they also burned through the Kremlin’s coffers — Ukraine had depleted a critical source of revenue just when Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin needed it most. By the time the war with Iran began on February 28, Russia’s oil and gas revenues had fallen 47% from the previous year, barrels were being sold to India at a third of market prices, and the national deficit had already reached 91% of its 2026 target. But since the US and Israel went to war in Iran, Moscow has been earning about $760 million a day from oil and gas sales, reaching nearly $24 billion in March. Taking advantage of rising demand, easing sanctions and the lack of leverage from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Russia has emerged as an unexpected winner in the Iran conflict, profiting from a frenzied market deprived of about a fifth of its supplies.
Ukraine had feared that energy shortages could push the West closer to Moscow and strengthen Putin’s position on the battlefield and in the negotiating room. Earlier this month, Belgium’s prime minister called for a "reasonable" normalization of relations with Russia to "restore access to cheap energy."
But now Ukraine has dealt a serious blow to a resurgent Russia with its attacks on energy infrastructure. By launching a fierce campaign against remote targets, Kiev hopes to ensure that the additional billions do not reach the Kremlin.
The attack, along with previous pipeline failures and a series of recent tanker seizures, has shut down about 40 percent of Russia’s oil export capacity this week, making it the worst oil supply disruption in modern Russian history.
The scale of the damage to infrastructure in the Baltic states Ust-Luga and the neighboring export hub Primorsk, which together process 1.7 million barrels of oil per day, were forced to suspend operations due to drone attacks.
Intensifying long-range strike campaign Ukraine has been waging a campaign of deep strikes against Russia’s oil and gas sector for more than two years, seeking to drain the Kremlin’s military coffers by cutting it off from the industry that enriches it. But the attacks appear to be intensifying as Ukraine expands its weapons production. In the first two months of 2026, more than 40 strikes were carried out in Russia, mostly targeting oil and gas infrastructure, double the intensity of attacks in 2025.
Other news on Ukrainian armed forces strikes against Russia UNIAN reported earlier that the Ukrainian armed forces had struck a Russian combat icebreaker in the Leningrad Region. It was planned to operate as part of the Border Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation.