Just a day after a major report in the Financial Times said that US intelligence has been helping Ukraine conduct long-range drone strikes on Russian oil facilities since at least July, major oil depot in Crimea caught fire overnight following a Ukrainian drone strike.
This marks the second time in a week that the the Feodosia facility has been struck and gone up in flames. Importantly, it is Crimea’s largest oil storage and transshipment hub, with a capacity of around 250,000 tons.
Russian sources say that air defenses intercepted more than 20 drones targeting a fuel storage facility in the port city. The attack resulted in no casualties, amid a large emergency response to battle the blaze.
NASA’s fire monitoring system detected multiple active fires at the site, according to international reports.
In total Ukrainian forces sent some 40 drones to various areas of Crimea, and dozens more were sent against other targets in Russian territory.
Kiev and its Western backers have a clearly articulated objective to disrupt a key source of revenue funding Moscow’s war effort – which has resulted in some success, given the reports of fuel and gasoline shortages, and rising prices across Russia.
Ukraine’s military leadership has of late boasted that the operation over several months has cut Russia’s oil refining capacity by 21%.
Hellbound and Down 