Ukraine's drone offensive causes 30% damage to Russian oil refining capacity... Fuel shortage aggravated

It has been reported that about 30% of Russia's total crude oil refining capacity was damaged as Ukraine intensified its drone attacks on Russian oil refineries despite warnings from the U.S. Donald Trump administration.

Russia, which exports diesel fuel under an agreement with the United States despite the fuel shortage in the region, is expected to face further disruption in fuel supply due to Ukraine's continued attacks.

According to Reuters on the 10th (local time), two Russian oil industry officials said that Ukraine had resumed drone attacks on Russian oil refineries since the end of last month, affecting facilities equivalent to about 30% of total refining capacity.

Over the past week, 9 out of 35 major oil refineries in Russia have been attacked by Ukraine, causing emergency situations such as operational disruptions.

Damaged oil refineries are located in Ryazan, Yaroslavl, and the Volga River basin in central Russia.

According to industry sources, the oil refining facilities attacked since the end of last month have a designed crude oil refining capacity of about 300,000 tons (2.2 million barrels) per day.

This is equivalent to 32% of Russia's total crude oil refining capacity of 930,000 tons per day.

However, not all attacked facilities stopped operations, so the actual reduction in crude oil processing volume is estimated to be smaller than this.

Industry sources estimated that Russia's crude oil processing volume, which was about 700,000 tons (5 million barrels) per day at the end of last month, may have decreased by up to 200,000 tons per day due to this attack.

Russia's large oil refineries also could not avoid the attack. On the night of the 9th, a Ukrainian drone struck Russia's second-largest Kirish oil refinery, causing a fire.

Ukraine has been strengthening its offensive against Russian oil refineries as the measure to halt attacks on energy facilities between Russia and Ukraine announced by U.S. President Donald Trump at the end of last month has not been effective.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized Ukraine for ignoring President Trump's demands to stop attacking Russian energy facilities in an article in the Russian daily Kommersant the previous day.

On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that his country's attack was in response to Russian airstrikes targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure.