As of: March 27, 2024, 8:07 p.m
By: Patrick Mayer
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Split
The Ukrainians use a mysterious kamikaze drone to set fire to the distillation columns of Vladimir Putin's Russian oil refineries.
Even Washington is alarmed.
Samara – The clever tactics in the Ukraine war are now obvious.
The insidiously attacked Ukraine is trying to significantly impact attacker Russia's oil industry using drone attacks in order to disrupt the supply of fuel to the front and at the same time hinder a key economic sector of the regime in Moscow.
Ukraine attacks with “February”: Russia’s oil refineries become a target
Did Kremlin autocrat Vladimir Putin expect this, while the Ukrainians were also giving his Black Sea fleet a hard time in Crimea?
Little by little it is becoming clearer which weapon the Ukrainian armed forces are using to set fire to one Russian oil refinery after another.
The Ukrainians christened her “February,” “Liutyi” in Ukrainian.
It is not known whether the name is related to the start of the Russian attack on the neighbor on February 24, 2022, which violated international law.
Videos on
Russian oil refineries on fire: Ukrainians send Putin drone “February”
An example from Novokuybyshevsk near Samara clearly illustrates how this can work.
Military bloggers shared a video on social media that shows how a “Liutyi” is precisely steered into a so-called column for crude oil distillation.
Simplified: Connected to the refinery's furnace, which heats the crude oil to up to 390 degrees Celsius, the column in the form of a high steel tower is intended to distill the resulting vapor-liquid mixture and collect it as cooled liquid components.
Gasoline and diesel are created as intermediate products - and thus possible fuel for Putin's war machine.
In the Novokuybyshevsk case study, a column and/or the associated furnace exploded when the kamikaze drone hit the ground.
Ergo: Nothing works anymore.
In previous examples, the Ukrainians had (presumably) attacked crude oil tanks at refineries.
Of course, this can set parts of the facility on fire (see photo in the tweet below).
However, it does not necessarily stop gasoline and diesel production.
Insidiously attacked Ukraine: Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin.
© IMAGO / SNA
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The Ukrainian online portal
The Kyiv Independent (K)
recently reported 15 drone attacks on Russian refineries between the beginning of January and March 19th.
In some cases these took place over distances deep into the Caucasus.
According to
Bild
, Moscow therefore had to impose a gasoline export stop for six months from March 1st in order to ensure the supply of sufficient fuel to its own population and the army.
Striking: According to the Finnish
think tank Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA),
the revenue for Putin's regime from state gasoline exports fell by up to eight percent between January and February 2024.
According to an analysis by the Scandinavians, revenue from diesel exports fell by nine percent.
This did not go unnoticed by the USA, Ukraine's most important supporter until the end of December 2023.
Since then, Donald Trump's Republicans have been blocking an immense arms package worth a rumored $61 billion in Congress.
Ukraine attacks on Russian refineries: USA is concerned
On Friday (March 22), the
Financial Times (FT)
reported that Washington had called on Kiev to stop attacking Russian oil refineries as this could dramatically increase the price of oil on the world market.
In addition, according to the United States, these attacks would significantly increase the risk of escalation.
According to the
FT
, the Ukrainian secret services were repeatedly warned about this - apparently in vain.
While the Ukrainian army has used drones to contain the Russian offensive in the east of its own country, it does not want to be interfered with in drone attacks on Russian territory.
Ukraine said they were intended to disrupt supplies for the Russian military.
And so the “Liutyi” becomes a bogeyman for Putin’s oil industry.
(pm)