The newspaper revealed that American politicians demanded Ukraine to stop attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in order to prevent a rise in world oil prices and not provoke Moscow to retaliate. Financial Times.
The publication’s journalists spoke with three sources familiar with the situation. They reported that Washington had repeatedly warned senior SBU and GUR officials about the consequences of their actions. But both intelligence agencies are constantly expanding their own drone programs to strike Russia from land, sea and air.
Ukraine is extremely disappointed by recent drone attacks on Russian oil refineries, terminals, warehouses and storage facilities, which have damaged Russia’s oil production capacity, an FT source has said. Despite the sanctions, the Russian Federation remains one of the largest energy suppliers. Last year, oil prices increased by about 15%, so fuel prices also increased. Moreover, this incident took place just as US President Joe Biden started his re-election campaign. It faces an uphill battle, and American politicians don’t need higher gas prices.
Washington also fears that if Russia continues its attacks, it could retaliate against the energy infrastructure the West relies on. Including objects located far from the border. The FT source was referring to the CPC pipeline, through which Russian oil enters the world market via Kazakhstan.
Ukraine has become more active
Talking about Ukraine’s own UAV programs, the authors of the article noted that Kiev’s attacks have intensified recently due to Ukraine developing technology and increasing the number of drones. Ukrainian officials say they are developing drones that can fly thousands of kilometers and cause serious damage.
The FT found that Ukraine has attacked Russia’s largest oil refineries at least twelve times since 2022, with nine attacks carried out this year. According to former CIA analyst Helima Croft, Ukraine has shown that it can hit much of the oil infrastructure in western Russia, threatening about 60% of the country’s exports. In mid-March, Kiev launched two major attacks on Russian territory. Seven Russian energy facilities were hit in a few days. Additionally, in the last year, Ukraine has tried to attack Russian ports, hit Russian warships in the Black Sea, and hit the Crimean Bridge.
One of the sources told the FT that with such attacks, Ukraine is trying to disrupt the supply of fuel to Russian troops and reduce the Kremlin’s funding for its military work. They also want to show that Moscow’s air defenses can be broken and force Washington to provide a new aid package.
Ukraine is undecided
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishina admitted in her speech at the Kiev Security Forum that Washington wants Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil refineries.
“We understand the call of our American partners, but we are struggling with the capabilities, resources and practices we have today,” Stefanishyna added.
However, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Mikhail Podolyak, described the FT publication as “fictional information”, Strana.ua reported:
“After two years of full-scale war, no one will dictate the terms of this war to Ukraine. Within the framework of international law, Ukraine can degrease Russian combat vehicles. Fuel is the main weapon of war. Ukraine will destroy its fuel infrastructure.”
questionable information
Andrei Klimov, Deputy Chairman of the International Relations Committee of the Federation Council, said: “Lente.ru”That there is a big difference between an article in the FT citing obscure sources and reality:
“Experience shows that attacks, especially those using long-range precision weapons, cannot be carried out without the knowledge of foreign experts, because the weapons are special. For example, if we are talking about long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, their routes are usually determined using satellite reconnaissance data from NATO countries. So there’s no point.”
Klimov suggested that the broadcast could be related to the upcoming elections in the United States, as it would help whiten Biden’s image.
New attacks
In March, it attacked many oil facilities and other important facilities in Kiev, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Oryol, Ryazan, Rostov, Leningrad and other regions. In the middle of the attack, St. The St. Petersburg International Commodity Exchange reported a 1.3-1.4% increase in the cost of gasoline.
Artem Verkhov, director of the gas industry development department of the Russian Ministry of Energy, told a roundtable meeting in the Federation Council that the ministry, together with the Russian Guard, is developing safety measures that oil refineries can implement. Among other things, we are talking about the installation of protection systems of the “Pantsir” type.