Ukraine says its attack on the pumping station, which is near the Ural Mountains and owned by Transneft, happened overnight with drones. The governor of the area reported a fire at a factory. Zelenskyy put a video on social media (X) of smoke rising from the place in Russia that Ukraine had hit.
Zelenskyy stated the distance in a straight line to where the strike happened was over 930 kilometers (roughly 580 miles), and Ukraine will continue to increase how far its weapons can reach. He called this operation a new phase of using Ukraine’s weapons, and he shared the video on X.
Strike 1,500 km inside Russia
Since 2022, Ukraine has increased by 170% the distance its attacks go into Russia. In February, Ukrainian drones hit the Ukhta refinery in the Komi region of Russia, about 1,090 miles from the Ukrainian border, according to people in that region.
In the last few weeks, Ukraine has been attacking inside Russia more often, aiming to seriously hurt Russia’s ability to fund the war by disrupting its oil refineries, storage places and ports. This is all happening as global oil prices are increasing because of the war in Iran.
Kyiv’s strategy: oil infrastructure under pressure
On Tuesday, a Ukrainian drone caused a big fire at the Tuapse refinery on the Black Sea; it was the third attack on that refinery in less than two weeks. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, said this shows Ukraine is now attacking more and more civilian areas. Russia has been constantly attacking energy facilities used by civilians in Ukraine throughout the war and many civilians have died.
Zelenskyy says Ukraine now has numbers showing how much less oil Russia can export because of the long-range attacks on ports in the west of Russia. He said the amount of oil going through Primorsk is down 13%, Ust-Luga is down 43%, and Novorossiysk is down 38%.
Competing claims on export disruption
However, people in the oil trading business and industry experts, and their predictions, show Russia continued to ship roughly the same amount of crude oil from those ports in April as it did in March, even with the drone attacks.
Zelenskyy sees this attack deep inside Russia as part of a planned effort to weaken Russia’s military production, its ability to move supplies, and its oil sales. He says, “Each strike that reduces Russia’s military industry, its ability to move things around, and its oil exports is important.”
Key statements and developments so far:
– SBU says drones struck a pumping station near Perm
– Regional governor reported a fire at an industrial site
– Kyiv cites throughput drops at three key ports
– Industry estimates say April crude loadings held steady
Range and escalation signals
The SBU says the pumping station owned by Transneft is very important because it sends oil in four directions, including to a refinery in Perm. Transneft has not yet responded to an email asking for a comment on what happened.
Since 2022, Ukraine has built up a supply of long-range weapons that they have made themselves. Government officials say this supply of weapons is key to making Russia’s energy infrastructure feel less secure.
What comes next
Kyiv’s leaders say they will continue to make their attacks reach further, continuing to put pressure on Russia’s oil system. Russia is saying these attacks are on civilians. Because the market is easily affected by the problems caused by the Iran war, any more interruptions to the oil supply could make both sides show how much they are really affecting exports and ability to produce.
