"These are legitimate military targets. Oil extraction and refining make up around 90% of Russia’s defense budget. These are the dirty petro-rubles funding the war against us." ~ Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)
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. . . Ukraine has carried out nearly 160 successful strikes against oil extraction and refining facilities across Russia in 2025, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Vasyl Maliuk, said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Oct. 31.
Maliuk said that at least 20 of those strikes were conducted in September and October alone, targeting six oil refineries, two oil terminals, three fuel depots, and nine pumping stations.
"These are legitimate military targets. Oil extraction and refining make up around 90% of Russia’s defense budget. These are the dirty petro-rubles funding the war against us," he said.
Maliuk claimed that Russian domestic fuel shortages have reached up to 20%, with 37% of its refining capacity forced to shut down. Fuel deficits were reported in 57 Russian regions, prompting Moscow to ban gasoline exports until the end of the year.
Strikes on Russian oil infrastructure and military-industrial sites are part of an ongoing campaign carried out primarily by domestically produced Ukrainian drones.
The operations are designed to disrupt Russia’s war economy and its military capabilities.
Most recently, Ukraine' military intelligence (HUR) struck a key Russian military fuel pipeline in Moscow Oblast on Oct. 31, disabling a key supply route used by the Russian army, the agency said in a statement.
HUR said the strike targeted the Koltsevoy (Ring) pipeline, a 400-kilometer-long fuel artery used to supply Russia’s armed forces with gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from refineries in Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Moscow.
The operation reportedly destroyed all three major fuel lines of the system simultaneously near Ramensky district, south-east of Moscow. Despite anti-drone nets and armed security on-site, the pipeline infrastructure was successfully taken out of service, HUR said.
Photo: Mihail Siergiejevicz / SOPA / Getty Images
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