..Ukrainian drone strikes are doing so much damage to Russian oil infrastructure and refineries that the country is having to import emergency fuel supplies from China, Korea and Belarus.
The Moscow agency Neftegaz says 38pc of the country’s primary refining capacity is out of action, though Russia has ways to plug holes.
The latest attack this week hit the Antipinsky oil refinery in western Siberia, 2,000 kilometres into Russian territory. It was the deepest strike of the war so far.
“They have huge areas they can’t defend with air-defence systems. Russia cannot do anything substantial to protect those assets,” said Zagorodnyuk.
..The refinery crisis is causing a build-up of crude that cannot be stored. Goldman Sachs said drillers are reeling from 17pc interest rates and a rising “tax wedge”.
I am failing to find it, but there was an analysis of WW2 bombing and how the Brits did a terrible job of prioritizing fuel refineries for bombing runs. Apparently only ~5 locations were responsible for a lot of the German war effort, with one plant in particular the only one in the country that could supply their airforce. Taking out that one location could have crippled German fighter craft in one blow.
Must be a lot easier to assess strategic importance in the modern age when the entire planet is getting photographed daily.
senordevnyc•3mo ago