Ukraine cripples nearly half of Russia's oil refining capacity — FT
Photo: The situation in Russia continues to deteriorate rapidly (Getty Images)
Ukraine’s large-scale campaign of long-range strikes has been one of the causes of Russia’s worst fuel crisis in decades, according to the Financial Times.
As a result of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, the following have been put out of commission:
- Over 30% of actual oil refining capacity
- Over 45% of nominal capacity.
Journalists note that repair work at these facilities is progressing extremely slowly. As a result, the effects of Ukraine’s precision strikes will be felt for many more weeks, and in some cases, months.
The agency analyzes data from S&P Global Energy and satellite images of Russia’s largest refineries. It turned out that some facilities have still not resumed full-scale operations. Moreover, the refineries in Kirishi, Tuapse, Samara, and Syzran were not refining any oil at all at the time of the analysis.
According to experts, even after resuming operations, it will take these facilities more than a year to return to their previous level of productivity.
The situation in Russia could worsen even further, as Russian drone defense systems are unable to effectively repel massive Ukrainian attacks.
The latest publicly available data shows that since the beginning of 2026, Russian oil refineries have been struck by the Ukrainian Defense Forces at least 194 times.
This is 11 times more than during the same period last year.
Stefan Meister, head of the Eurasia program at the German Council on Foreign Relations, says that Ukraine had achieved a technological breakthrough that had allowed it to significantly increase the production of long-range drones and establish their mass production, explaining the Ukrainian Defense Forces’ latest successes.
By the way, the day before, the Defense Forces struck one of Russia’s largest oil refineries.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces targeted an oil refinery that ranks among the top five largest in Russia.
What’s more, it has become clear why Ukraine actually began striking Wildberries.
