The strikes on Russia stopped 14% of its oil refining capacity

Drone attacks on Russia earlier this year knocked out 14% of its oil refining capacity and drove up domestic fuel prices.

This was reported in the Intelligence Directorate of the US Ministry of Defense, reports Bloomberg.

Fuel prices in Russia rose by 20-30% by mid-March, and its export stopped. These are the consequences of Russiaʼs loss of some oil refining capacities.

"To mitigate the effects of these strikes, Russia banned gasoline exports for six months beginning in March, began importing petroleum products from Belarus, planned to import from Kazakhstan, and prioritized transportation of petroleum products by rail over other modes of transportation," the Pentagon report says.

At the same time, drone strikes had a minimal impact on electricity production — Russia ranks third in the world in terms of electricity generation capacity.

Attacks on oil refineries are aimed at depleting fuel reserves and revenues from its export, which go to finance the war against Ukraine. However, the US has criticized the strikes because of the risk of impacting global oil prices.

Attacks on Russian refineries

This spring, Ukraine began to actively attack Russian refineries. In March, an oil refinery in the Russian city of Ryazan caught fire after a drone attack, drones attacked a refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region and an oil depot in Oryol, an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region. Meanwhile, the Lukoil refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region lost part of its capacity due to the attack, and the refinery in Sloviansk-on-Kuban partially stopped work.

At the end of March, a sharp decrease in gasoline production was recorded in Russia — by 7.4%, to 754.6 thousand tons. Politico wrote that drone attacks on Russian oil refineries led to the fact that one of the worldʼs largest oil powers ran out of gasoline.

On April 10, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin advised Ukraine not to attack Russian refineries, but to "focus on military objectives." The Washington Post wrote that Ukraineʼs attacks on Russian refineries deepen tensions in relations with the United States. While the United States dissuade Kyiv from attacks on oil refineries of the Russian Federation due to fears of rising world prices, Ukraine considers them necessary to increase the cost of aggression for the Russian Federation.