The destruction of the fuel industry may prove to be the most effective.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has used drones four times to strike oil tankers from Russia's "shadow fleet," escalating the war at sea and demonstrating that Ukrainian intelligence services are increasingly confident in carrying out bold attacks and publicly claiming responsibility for them.
One vessel was hit by aerial drones on Thursday night in the Mediterranean Sea, more than 1,900 kilometers from Ukraine. Three others were attacked by maritime drones in the Black Sea. These are the first attacks on Russian oil tankers violating sanctions that Ukraine has acknowledged since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, The New York Times reports.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) also stated that it has attacked Russian oil drilling platforms in the Caspian Sea four times in the past 10 days.
The oil business fuels Russia's economy and the war, and throughout the conflict, the West has sought to cut these revenues through sanctions.
To circumvent these sanctions, Russia has created a so-called "shadow fleet" – a secret network of hundreds of oil and gas tankers with hard-to-trace owners that covertly transport fuel to countries like India and China. Ukraine believes that if it can disrupt this business through attacks on the shadow fleet as well as on oil refineries, it can gain leverage in peace negotiations, which U.S. President Donald Trump is currently pushing for, demonstrating that it continues to attack Russia.
Moreover, Ukraine hopes to force Russia to the negotiating table by cutting its oil revenues. So far, Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin has given no indication that he is interested in ending the war.
He claims to be winning, recently adding that Kyiv's attacks on the shadow fleet will allegedly have no effect. He also threatened retaliation. "We will definitely respond," he said during his final press conference.
Media reports state that the recent attacks are part of a new front in the conflict. For years, the Biden administration has warned Ukraine against striking Russia's oil industry due to concerns about rising global prices and escalation of the war.
It is also reported that Ukraine's public statements suggest that Trump may have been aware of these plans, as Ukraine would not risk angering Trump at this stage of negotiations.
All four tankers disabled by Ukrainian intelligence services were empty. The SBU reported that three vessels in the Black Sea were heading to load oil in Novorossiysk, Russia's busiest port on the northeastern coast of the sea. The attack on Thursday night in the Mediterranean was the most unexpected, as the vessel was located very far from Ukraine.
