Stop attacks on Russian refineries, the US is pushing Ukraine

Washington has called on Kiev to stop these actions several times, the sources of the British newspaper agree. Repeated warnings were passed on to senior officials of Ukraine’s SBU security service and HUR military intelligence directorate.

One person told the FT that the White House is increasingly frustrated by “brazen attacks” by Ukrainian drones that regularly hit oil refineries, terminals, warehouses and storage facilities in western Russia, damaging its production capacity. Despite the war, Western sanctions and Ukrainian attacks, Russia is still one of the most important exporters of oil.

The British paper recalled that oil prices rose by approximately 15 percent to around $85 per barrel in 2024, which increases fuel costs at a time when US President Joe Biden is launching his re-election campaign.

Oil is the most expensive since November

Economy

Washington also fears that if Ukraine continues to attack Russian energy facilities, including many located hundreds of kilometers from the border, Russia could retaliate by striking energy infrastructure that the West relies on. This applies, for example, to the CPC pipeline, through which oil flows from Kazakhstan through Russia to the world market. This pipeline, which Moscow closed briefly in 2022, is used by Western companies such as ExxonMobil or Chevron.

“We do not support or enable attacks inside Russia,” a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council (NSC) said, according to the FT.

The paper said it tried to contact the CIA, SBU, HUR and the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. No one responded to a request for comment.

However, according to Ukrainska Pravda, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanišynova responded to The Financial Times’ report, stating that oil refineries on Russian territory are a legitimate target of Ukraine from a military point of view, which, according to her, is proceeding according to NATO standards.

“We understand the challenges of our American partners. But at the same time, we are fighting with the help of the possibilities, means and practices that we have at our disposal,” she said, adding that a number of representatives consider the refineries as legitimate military targets.

In addition, she said that when Ukraine asked NATO to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine, alliance officials rejected it, telling her that Kiev would target “infrastructure on Russian territory that allows bombing Ukrainian cities,” such as missile factories .

“So we deal with the best NATO standards,” concluded Stefanišynová

Ukraine has stepped up its airstrikes this year as it expands its drone programs and the ground war spills in Moscow’s favor. The FT also links the Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries to frustration with “the West’s ambiguous approach” to limiting Moscow’s energy income.

MAP: Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries

Europe

According to a military intelligence official, there have been at least 12 attacks on major Russian refineries since 2022 and at least nine attacks this year on several terminals, warehouses and storage facilities in western Russia.

Helima Croft, a former CIA analyst now at RBC Capital Markets, said recently that Ukraine has demonstrated it can hit most of the oil export infrastructure in western Russia, threatening about 60 percent of the country’s exports.

The U.S. emergency comes as Biden faces a tough re-election battle in this year’s U.S. presidential election, with oil prices rising and up nearly 15 percent this year.

“Nothing scares a sitting U.S. president more than a spike in pump prices during an election year,” said Bob McNally, president of consulting firm Rapidan Energy and a former White House energy adviser.

Ukraine, with the development of its technology, is constantly increasing the number of drone attacks. Ukrainian officials say they have developed drones with a range of over 1,000 kilometers and the ability to carry explosives capable of causing serious damage.

Ukrainian drones hit another Russian oil refinery

The war in Ukraine