NATO representative tells media: Ukrainian attacks caused Russian oil refineries to shrink by 17 percent

Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russian oil refineries have led to a decline in Russian oil refinery volumes of around 17 percent, a NATO representative told journalists in Washington on July 9.

“I think we will continue to monitor this as Ukraine uses various types of weapons and this will have further implications for the Russian economy,” the unnamed official said on the sidelines of the NATO summit.

Ukraine has increasingly carried out wide-ranging drone strikes on Russian territory, often with the aim Oil refineries and depots to disrupt fuel supplies to the Russian military and reduce Moscow’s revenues from fossil fuel exports, which are critical to financing the war.

Bloomberg reported in March that the strikes had shut down between 12 and 14 percent of Russia’s oil refining capacity.

An attack on April 2 targeted the Nizhnekamsk oil refinery in Tatarstan, which has an annual production capacity of around 8 million tons, or 2.6 percent of Russia’s total annual oil processing capacity. The refinery is located over 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine.

Recently, Ukraine confirmed that it attacked the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia’s Rostov Oblast on June 5. The attack destroyed 1.5 million tons of oil and oil products worth $540 million.

Ukrainian drones also attacked four refineries in Russia’s Krasnodar region and Astrakhan Oblast on the night of June 21, and an oil depot in Volgograd Oblast on the night of July 9.

As a result of the repeated attacks, “the volume of Russian oil refining has fallen by about 17 percent,” said the unnamed NATO representative, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

Attacks on Russian energy targets drew criticism from US authorities in April. Washington said it did not support Ukraine’s attacks on oil refineries, fearing they could threaten the global energy market.

The United States and NATO allies will deliver dozens of air defense systems in the coming months, including four Patriot systems

The United States and at least nine other NATO allies agreed in a joint agreement on July 9 to send dozens of air defense systems to Ukraine in the coming months, including at least four Patriot batteries.