Ukraine launches drone offensive in Crimea and inside Russia, where fuel shortages are taking a toll

How ukrayina’s drone on skills ar slowing russian federation’s advance

Ukrainian drones knocked out power in the biggest city in Russian-held Crimea on Wednesday and targeted facilities ‌in central and southern Russia, local officials said, underscoring the reach of Kyiv's attacks on energy infrastructure.

Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian oil refineries, depots and supply routes this year, prompting Russia's parliament on Wednesday to take action to curb growing fuel shortages in many regions.

Fuel shortages have been particularly acute on the Crimean peninsula. The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol this week ​mandated early closing for public transport and cafés and said street lights would be dimmed to protect the city during overnight attacks.

Ukraine keeps striking Russian refineries and supply routes. How close is the country to an energy crisis?

On Wednesday he said the latest wave had downed power supplies and that trolley buses would ​not operate and parents should keep children at home.

Work was ongoing to restore supplies even though ⁠Kyiv was "trying to deprive us ⁠of our normal living conditions and sow panic," Mikhail ‌Razvozhayev said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 after street protests that forced Ukraine's pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, from power. Few countries recognize the annexation and Kyiv has vowed to take back the territory.

Ukraine's drone forces commander Robert Brovdi said drones had hit the main substation at the Sevastopol power plant in Crimea.

The drone traffic on Wednesday was not one-way. Ukrainian state oil ‌and gas firm Naftogaz said ​on Wednesday ​that Russian drone strikes ​had caused significant ⁠damage ⁠to ‌its gas production and storage ⁠facilities in the central Poltava ‌region.

In a statement on the ​Telegram messaging ⁠app, the ⁠company added ⁠that ⁠part ​of the facilities ​have ⁠suspended work.

In the central Russian ⁠region of Nizhny Novgorod, Gov. Gleb Nikitin said falling Ukrainian drone debris damaged an industrial facility and killed two people.

The unspecified facility was not damaged critically, he said. The region is home to NORSI, Russia's fourth-largest oil refinery, one of many large oil plants in ‌central Russia that temporarily halted or scaled back output in May in the wake of drone attacks, Reuters has reported.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences had shot down 323 drones overnight in regions across the country.

Authorities in Russia's Orenburg region, more than 1,000 kilometres southeast of Moscow and near the border of Kazakhstan, said drones had been downed over ​an industrial facility.

Ukraine's military struck Orenburg ‌gas processing plant and ​Russia's only ​helium plant, both in ​a complex in ⁠the ⁠Russian ‌region of Orenburg overnight, ⁠the Ukrainian military's General Staff ‌said on Wednesday.

A fire was recorded ​at ⁠the sites ⁠and ⁠the ⁠extent ​of the damage was ​being ⁠assessed, the General Staff ⁠said.

Ukraine has ⁠said its strategy of targeting Russian energy facilities with long-range drones is aimed at sapping a key source of Russia's war ⁠funds ⁠and showing Russians the four-year-old conflict launched by Moscow ​is no longer distant.

Moscow's oil refinery will be offline for at least six months after suffering extensive damage in Ukrainian drone attacks, ​two industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday, complicating Russian ​efforts to tackle fuel shortages across the world's largest country.

The refinery, located on the southern outskirts of the Russian ​capital, is the largest fuel supplier to the ⁠Moscow region. It was ⁠hit twice this month ‌by Ukrainian drones, forcing it to halt operations.

"It will take at least half a year to repair," one of the sources said of the damage.

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Seeking to stabilize the domestic fuel market by boosting supply, Russian lawmakers on Wednesday ⁠approved ⁠amendments to the Tax Code that included allowing lower-quality ​fuel to be used in gasoline production and delaying certain equipment modernization at refineries.

Both sides say they do not target civilians, but thousands of civilians have been killed in both countries.

Three people were killed in the Russian-held Ukrainian city of Horlivka when the entrance of an apartment building collapsed after an overnight drone attack, Russia's TASS agency said, citing local emergency services.

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In Russia's border Belgorod region, a man was killed and a woman was injured in a drone attack, while in the eastern Ukrainian city of Balakliia, Russian shelling killed one person on Wednesday, local authorities said.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have taken control of the village of Ivolzhanske in Ukraine's Sumy region, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

Reuters could not independently verify the ⁠details of the latest strikes or battlefield advances.

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