Firefighters extinguish an oil tank fire at a storage facility in Bryansk region, Russia on January 19 (Photo: Reuters).
Fires have broken out at several energy infrastructure facilities in Russia in recent weeks following suspected drone attacks, including the Rosneft oil refinery in Tuapse, the Rosneft oil storage facility in Klintsy and the Novatek liquefied natural gas facility in the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga.
Videos posted on social media appear to show fires at facilities in Tuapse and Klintsy.
Analysts say Ukraine may be targeting these facilities to disrupt Russian military operations.
“Attacks on oil depots and storage facilities disrupt logistics routes and slow down combat operations,” Olena Lapenko, an energy security expert at the Ukrainian research organization DiXi Group, told the New York Times .
“Disrupting these supplies, like blood for the human body, is part of a broader strategy to counter Russia on the battlefield,” Lapenko said.
The attacks are also aimed at damaging a lucrative industry that has not been severely hampered by Western economic sanctions. According to Lapenko, Moscow has earned more than $400 billion from oil exports since the conflict began in February 2022.
However, the attack on the Ust-Luga terminal on the Baltic Sea, as well as bad weather in the region, disrupted Russian crude oil shipments by sea, causing traffic to fall to its lowest level in nearly two months, according to Bloomberg .
Ukraine produces domestic UAVs (Photo: Getty).
If the attacks are confirmed to have been carried out by Ukraine, it would suggest Kiev could strike targets deeper into Russian territory with drones, Reuters reported.
Ukraine even flew a drone over President Vladimir Putin's palace in an attack on an oil depot in St. Petersburg, a military source said.
Russian air defense systems are said to have become less effective against small drones, as they had difficulty detecting Ukrainian drones.
“However, most of these defense systems are built to identify and destroy larger targets such as missiles, helicopters, and aircraft. Many defense systems are not really geared towards identifying UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) which are much smaller in size,” Bendett said.
According to Forbes, the above effective approach shows Kiev's strategy of using "detonator-carrying" drones.
Drones, also known as "aerial killers", have so far played a prominent role in the Russia-Ukraine war, with both sides using them to attack, monitor and precisely target the other side.
Ukraine typically uses UAVs for reconnaissance and to direct attacks. But some have been adapted for direct attack, by carrying bombs or grenades.
Ukraine also began producing UAVs with integrated anti-interception technology, using artificial intelligence.
Small, low-cost drones with minimal bomb payloads could be devastating if used against flammable targets, said TX Hammes, a researcher at the National Defense University.
"Even a few grams of explosives delivered directly to the target can cause an explosion that destroys the target," Hammes said.
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