Russia claims three Ukrainian drones intercepted over Yaroslavl Oblast
Three Ukrainian drones were allegedly shot down over Russia’s Yaroslavl Oblast, regional governor Mikhail Yevraev claimed on Telegram on March 31, adding that there was no damage or casualties at the crash sites.
The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed the successful "destruction" of three UAVs in the oblast.
This is not the first drone attack in this Russian oblast this year.
On Jan. 29, a drone attacked the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery. The drone fell on the premises of the plant at 6:39 a.m., according to the Russian Telegram channel SHOT.
"A small fire broke out” at the crash site, which workers “quickly extinguished."
Read also: U.S. does not support Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries, but is there a request to stop?
In just two months, Ukraine has used long-range drones to take out as much as 12% of Russia’s total oil refining capacity, according to a recent Bloomberg report. The resulting shortage of petroleum products forced Moscow to ban their export.
Ukrainian drone strikes open up new opportunities for economic warfare against Russia, damaging Russian infrastructure and industry on a much larger scale.
The following Russian facilities have been partially or completely disabled:
Tuapse Oil Refinery
Nizhny Novgorod Oil Refinery
Ryazan Oil Refinery
Novokuibyshevsk Oil Refinery
Syzran Oil Refinery
Slavyansk Oil Refinery
Ilsky Oil Refinery
Volgograd Oil Refinery
Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery
Kuibyshev Oil Refinery
Ust-Luga LNG plant
Novocherkassk GRES.
The refineries’ most vulnerable modules—rectification columns—were chosen as targets. Ukrainian experts estimate direct losses from the destruction of this valuable equipment to be about $1.5 billion.
Read also: Ukraine’s drone strike campaign against Russian oil refineries
Indirect losses, including a drop in refining capacity of the Russian oil industry, are estimated at more than 70 million tons per year, which is more than 25% of all Russian capacity.
This led to:
A 50% increase in gasoline prices in Russia
A ban on gasoline exports from Russia (a $2 billion loss for the state budged $4 billion in lost revenue from oil companies)
Reduction of production by 600,000 barrels per day (annual losses can reach $12 billion).
On March 25, the head of Ukraine’s SBU security service, Lt. Gen. Vasyl Malyuk, said in an interview with ICTV that Ukraine would continue to target Russian oil facilities.
On March 27, the pro-Ukrainian resistance movement Atesh reported that in Russian regions where the oil industry had been targeted by Ukrainian drone strikes, National Guard (Rosgvardia) units were being inspected to determine why they had failed to counter the threat.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
