As Russian oil profits soar, so do Ukraine's drone attacks on refineries
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The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has been a boon for the Kremlin's war coffers — during just the first two weeks of fighting, Russian earned an additional 6 billion euros ($6.9 billion) as global oil prices spiked.
But two weeks later, Moscow was suffering from what Reuters described as "the most severe oil supply disruption in the modern history of Russia."
Alongside continued pipeline disruption and tanker seizures, Ukrainian drone strikes contributed to around 40% of Russia’s oil export capacity being halted.
"Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure are a continuation of a trend from last year," John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia Program at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Kyiv Independent.
"But Kyiv may see these strikes as especially important now in order to try to limit the additional revenue Moscow gains due to the Iran war."
The past few weeks have seen record numbers of Ukrainian drones being launched, at least according to Russian officials — the Kremlin's Defense Ministry on March 9 said 754 had been detected over Russia and occupied Crimea over the previous 24 hours.
Since then, several Russian oil refineries have been repeatedly hammered.
"Recently, the Ukrainian Defense Forces have carried out a series of strikes against Russian oil and gas infrastructure," Anton Zemlianyi, senior analyst at the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, told the Kyiv Independent.
"Reports indicate extensive destruction and fires at the oil terminal in the port of Ust-Luga, as well as damage to the Kirishi Petroleum Organic Synthesis (Kinef) oil refinery."
Satellite imagery indicates significant damage at Russia’s Ust-Luga port in Leningrad Oblast following Ukrainian drone strikes.
— Giorgi Revishvili (@revishvilig) March 27, 2026
Primorsk and Ust-Luga—Russia’s primary western oil export hubs—have both been targeted by Ukraine within the past four days. pic.twitter.com/skG1eRz2Z1
Ukraine launched a mass overnight attack on March 25, hitting an energy terminal in the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, and a Russian military icebreaker in the port of Vyborg.
On March 26, Ukrainian forces struck the Kinef oil refinery in the city of Kirishi, the General Staff confirmed.
And overnight on March 27, Ukrainian drones reportedly struck oil terminals in the port cities of Ust-Luga and Primorsk in Russia's Leningrad Oblast, Russian Telegram media channels reported.
The strikes marked the third straight night of attacks targeting oil facilities in Leningrad Oblast.
"These attacks are part of Ukraine’s broader campaign aimed at reducing Russia’s export capacity and, in turn, limiting the revenues that finance its military-industrial complex and ongoing aggression," Zemlianyi said.
"These measures have halted roughly 40% of Russia’s oil exports — about 2 million barrels per day."
Global oil prices rose to over $100 per barrel on March 8, as the war between Iran, Israel, and the U.S. escalated, marking the first time prices have passed the $100-per-barrel mark since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russian oil has been subject to sanctions such as oil price caps imposed by Ukraine's allies throughout the duration of the full-scale war.
On March 12, the U.S. issued a temporary license allowing countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea in an effort to stabilize global energy prices despite Russia's continued war against Ukraine, the U.S. Treasury Department announced.
