Wars 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

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At least 40 per cent of Russia's oil export capacity halted, Reuters calculations show

At least 40 per cent of Russia's oil export capacity is at a halt following Ukrainian drone attacks, a disputed attack on a major pipeline and the seizure of tankers, according to Reuters calculations based on market data. The shutdown is the most severe oil supply disruption in the modern history

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At least 40 per cent of Russia's oil export capacity halted, Reuters calculations show

REUTERS
Published :
Mar 25, 2026 23:09
Updated :
Mar 25, 2026 23:09

At least 40 per cent of Russia's oil export capacity is at a halt following Ukrainian drone attacks, a disputed attack on a major pipeline and the seizure of tankers, according to Reuters calculations based on market data.

The shutdown is the most severe oil supply disruption in the modern history of Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter, and has hit Moscow just as oil prices exceeded $100 a barrel due to the Iran war.

Russia's oil output is one of the main sources of revenue for the national budget and is central to the $2.6 trillion economy.

UKRAINE HAS INCREASED ATTACKS

Ukraine intensified drone attacks on Russia's oil and fuel export infrastructure this month, hitting all three of Russia's major western oil export ports, including Novorossiysk on the Black Sea and Primorsk and Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea.

According to Reuters calculations, about 40 per cent of Russia's crude oil export capabilities - or around 2 million barrels per day, were shut as of Wednesday after the most recent attack.

That includes Primorsk and Ust-Luga as well as the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia.

Kyiv has also targeted pipeline oil pumping stations and refineries. Kyiv says it aims to diminish Moscow's oil and gas revenue, which accounts for around a quarter of Russia's state budget proceeds, and weaken its military might.

Russia says the Ukrainian strikes are terrorist attacks and has tightened security across its 11 time zones.

PORTS, PIPELINES AND TANKERS

Ukraine said that part of the Druzhba pipeline was damaged by Russian strikes at the end of January, while both Slovakia and Hungary demanded Kyiv restart the supplies immediately.

The Novorossiysk oil terminal, which can handle up to 700,000 bpd, has been loading oil below plan since damage from a heavy Ukrainian drone attack early this month.

In addition, frequent seizures of Russia-related tankers in Europe have disrupted 300,000 bpd of Arctic oil exports flowing from the port of Murmansk, traders said.

With its westward export routes under fire, Moscow must rely on oil exports to Asian markets, but those routes are limited due to capacity, traders said.

Russia continues uninterrupted supplies via pipelines to China, including the Skovorodino-Mohe and Atasu-Alashankou routes, as well as ESPO Blend exports by sea via the port of Kozmino.

Together, the three routes account for some 1.9 million bpd of oil.

Russia also continues to load oil from its two far eastern Sakhalin projects, shipping about 250,000 bpd from the island.

Traders also say that Russia is supplying the refineries in neighbouring Belarus with around 300,000 bpd of oil.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine hits major Russian port in 400-drone barrage

Russia on Wednesday said a Ukrainian attack sparked a fire at a major port in the country’s northwest in a barrage of almost 400 drones, launched a day after a record Russian aerial assault on Ukraine...

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Ukraine hits major Russian port in 400-drone barrage
Agence France-Presse . Moscow, Russia 26 March, 2026, 02:48

Russia on Wednesday said a Ukrainian attack sparked a fire at a major port in the country’s northwest in a barrage of almost 400 drones, launched a day after a record Russian aerial assault on Ukraine.

A power plant in Estonia was also hit by a drone that had flown into the NATO member from Russian airspace, while another crashed into Latvian territory, with officials in Riga saying that it was likely a Ukrainian drone gone astray.

The attack came after Russia fired nearly 1,000 drones at Ukraine over a 24-hour period starting late Monday, killing a total of eight people across the country, hitting the historic centre of Lviv and residential houses in western Ukraine during Tuesday evening rush hour.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky slammed what he called Russia’s ‘absolute depravity’ and vowed a response to the pummelling.

Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday that its air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed 389 Ukrainian drones overnight, mostly in regions that border Ukraine as well as around Moscow.

The attack triggered a fire at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, an oil exporting hub on the Gulf of Finland, close to Russia’s border with Estonia.

The blaze was ‘being brought under control’ regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said on social media, adding that no casualties had been reported.

Drozdenko did not specify which part of the port had been hit. The facility is a major hub for Russian fertilisers, oil and coal exports.

There was no comment from Ukraine’s military on the attack.

Earlier this week Ukraine hit another of Russia’s major Baltic Sea port — Primorsk — triggering a large fire that poured thick black smoke into the air, visible from satellite images.

A Ukrainian rocket attack also dealt ‘serious damage’ to electricity and water facilities in the Russian border region of Belgorod, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Ukraine has been intensifying its retaliatory attacks on Russia’s infrastructure — including refineries, oil depots and ports — in past weeks, calling it fair retribution and an attempt to cut Russia’s energy proceeds that fund its war effort.

EU and NATO member Estonia said on Wednesday a drone coming from Russian airspace hit a chimney of the Auvere power plant, near the town of Narva on the Russian border, causing no injuries.

‘These are the effects of Russia’s large-scale war of aggression,’ said Estonia’s Internal Security Service Director General Margo Palloson, expressing concern about ‘the occurrence of such incidents in the future’.

Neighbouring Latvia also said a drone had entered its airspace ‘from Russia’, but that no damage or casualties were reported.

According to the preliminary information, Latvian prime minister Evika Silina said the drone was likely Ukrainian.

The escalation in strikes comes as US-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv appear to have stalled amid the war in the Middle East.

Ukraine sent a delegation to the United States last weekend in a bid to revive the negotiation process, but the effort yielded no immediate result.

‘Unfortunately, there is no real progress as yet,’ Zelensky said on Tuesday after meeting with his negotiating team back from the talks.

‘Russia does not want to move towards peace,’ he added.​

 

[Saif]

Russian strikes kill 4 in Ukraine, damage port, maternity hospital

Russian air attacks across Ukraine early Saturday killed at least four people and damaged critical infrastructure, including a port and a maternity hospital, authorities said, as Russia pressed on with its war against Ukraine.

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Russian strikes kill 4 in Ukraine, damage port, maternity hospital
Agence France-Presse . Odesa, Ukraine 29 March, 2026, 03:52

Russian air attacks across Ukraine early Saturday killed at least four people and damaged critical infrastructure, including a port and a maternity hospital, authorities said, as Russia pressed on with its war against Ukraine.

Moscow has been firing drones at Ukraine in nightly barrages during its four-year invasion launched in February 2022, with Kyiv accusing it of attacking residential areas and targeting civilians.

In the southern port city of Odesa, two people were killed and at least 13 wounded, said Sergiy Lysak, the head of the city’s military administration, adding that one of the hits damaged a maternity hospital.

AFP images showed shattered windows, with rubble inside the building and shards of glass strewn across the floor and treatment chairs.

‘There was no military purpose whatsoever — this was pure terror against ordinary civilian life,’ Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media about the strikes on Odesa.

A port in the Odesa region was also damaged in the shelling, after several hits were recorded on its infrastructure, Ukraine’s state ports authority said.

Russia launched 273 drones at Ukraine overnight, 252 of which were shot down, the Ukrainian air force said on Saturday.

In Kryvyi Rig, a man was killed in a morning strike that hit an industrial enterprise, said Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipro regional administration. He said fires erupted at the site.

In the central Poltava region, one person was killed after Russian drones hit a residential building and industrial facilities, regional authorities said.

State oil firm Naftogaz said the victim was its employee who worked as a process plant operator.

‘We have suffered a tragic loss. Our colleague, 55-year-old Roman Chmykhun, was killed during one of the attacks,’ Naftogaz said on Telegram, adding: ‘This is the second death of one of our colleagues this week.’

It said its facilities in the region were targeted ‘for the third day running’.

In Russia’s Yaroslavl region, a child was killed in a drone attack, regional governor Mikhail Evraev said on Telegram.

Moscow said that a total of 155 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed in Russia’s airspace overnight.​

 

[Saif]

Russia fired record number of drones in March: Ukraine

Russia fired more drones at Ukraine in March than in any month since it launched its 2022 invasion, intensifying deadly strikes as peace talks stalled, an AFP analysis showed Thursday.

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Russia fired record number of drones in March: Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 03 April, 2026, 02:06

Russia fired more drones at Ukraine in March than in any month since it launched its 2022 invasion, intensifying deadly strikes as peace talks stalled, an AFP analysis showed Thursday.

The analysis, which used daily reports published by Ukraine’s air force, showed Russia fired at least 6,462 long-range drones into Ukraine last month — up nearly 28 per cent over February and the second straight monthly increase.

Russia launched 138 missiles at Ukraine in the same period, a decrease of around 52 per cent compared with the previous month, the data showed. Of the missiles and drones, the Ukrainian air force said it had downed nearly 90 per cent of them, the highest interception rate since February 2025, according to the data.

The data also includes a rare daytime attack on March 24 that killed eight people and damaged the UNESCO-protected city of Lviv in western Ukraine, authorities reported. US-led talks aimed at ending the four-year war stalled in March, as Washington shifted focus to its war with Iran. Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has ramped up its drone production to an industrial scale since the war began.

Ukraine has sought to scale up its air defences in response, deploying cheap interceptor drones to destroy their Russian counterparts.​

 

[Saif]

14 dead as Russia launches new daytime attacks on Ukraine

The Russian military used more than 500 drones and dozens of missiles in its salvo on Friday, according to the Ukrainian air force.

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14 dead as Russia launches new daytime attacks on Ukraine

AFP
Kyiv, Ukraine
Published: 04 Apr 2026, 14: 37

This photograph taken on 3 April, 2026 shows a destroyed car next to a damaged veterinary clinic building following an air attack in Chabany, Kyiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.AFP

Russian strikes killed 14 people in Ukraine on Friday, officials said, as Moscow launched the latest in an increasing number of daytime barrages.

Moscow has been firing aerial broadsides at Ukraine throughout its more than four-year invasion, mostly at night, but in recent weeks it has stepped up daytime attacks.

The Russian military used more than 500 drones and dozens of missiles in its salvo on Friday, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of intensifying attacks ahead of Catholic Easter on Sunday, "turning what should have been silence in the skies into an Easter escalation".

Images from Ukrainian emergency services showed damaged residential buildings, with a block of flats ripped open and rubble strewn on a street.

The attack killed one person and left eight wounded in the capital region of Kyiv, said regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk.

"Unfortunately, animals were also affected by the attack -- approximately 20 animals died due to damage to a veterinary clinic," Kalashnyk added.

Some residents of the capital sheltered in the metro or in basements, AFP reporters saw, but many people sat in cafes unfazed by the attacks and despite blaring air raid sirens.

In the Kyiv region, "a drone struck a residential building in Obukhiv, and another attack occurred between a kindergarten and a school in Vyshneve, damaging homes," said Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

Three people were killed in Ukraine's northern Sumy region, while attacks on the northwestern Zhytomyr region and central Dnipropetrovsk regions killed two others, according to the authorities.

Russian strikes on the frontline regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia killed eight people, local officials said.

Easter truce?
The barrage prompted emergency power outages in several regions, operator Ukrenergo said.

"This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine's Easter ceasefire proposals -- with brutal attacks," said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga.

Zelensky said earlier this week he was ready for a truce over the Easter holidays, but the Kremlin said it had not received "clearly formulated" proposals.

Ukraine has accused Russia of prolonging the war to capture more territory, and says Moscow is not interested in peace.

Russia denies targeting civilians.
Talks between the two warring parties, mediated by the United States, have been stalled by the war in the Middle East.

In comments to reporters, including from AFP, published on Friday, Zelensky said he had invited an American delegation to Ukraine to relaunch negotiations with Moscow.

"The delegation will do everything possible in the current conditions -- during the war with Iran -- to come to Kyiv," Zelensky said.

"The American group can come to us and, after us, go to Moscow. If it does not work out with three parties, let's do it this way," he added.

US President Donald Trump's envoys have been engaged in three-way shuttle diplomacy with Ukrainian and Russian teams in a bid to end the war.

But these have stalled as Washington has been occupied with the aerial campaign on Iran it launched in late February.

Amid the Middle East war, Ukraine has sought to leverage its expertise in fighting off Russian drones similar to those Iran has been using in retaliatory attacks across Gulf nations.

Last week, Zelensky visited several Middle Eastern countries and signed defence agreements with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

He also suggested Ukraine could help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, whose effective closure by Iran has rattled the global economy.

He did not specify how Ukraine could contribute, but cited Kyiv's experience in restoring passage through the Black Sea, which Russia had blocked at the beginning of its invasion.​

 

[Saif]

Russian strikes kill 3 in Ukraine

Russian strikes on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa killed three people, including a two-year-old child, and cut power to thousands of residents in the early hours of Monday, officials said.

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Russian strikes kill 3 in Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Odesa, Ukraine 07 April, 2026, 01:37

Russian strikes on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa killed three people, including a two-year-old child, and cut power to thousands of residents in the early hours of Monday, officials said.

Moscow has been launching drones and missiles at Ukraine almost nightly throughout its four-year invasion — the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.

The attack left a gaping hole in a residential building that was set ablaze in the attack, according to AFP reporters on the scene and emergency workers.

‘Tragically, three people have been reported killed in this attack, including a child — just two years old. My sincere condolences to the families and loved ones,’ president Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media, adding 16 people had been wounded. DTEK, the country’s largest private energy provider meanwhile said more than 16,000 people had been left without electricity following the attack.

Zelensky said Russia had fired more than 140 drones in the overnight barrage that he said also damaged energy facilities in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Dnipro regions.

‘Right now, all partners need to strengthen air defence together so that the interception rate of drones and missiles continues to increase,’ Zelensky added.

A Ukrainian drone attack meanwhile wounded eight, including two children, in Novorossiysk, the regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on social media.

Officials posted video of a damaged residential building, with its upper floors blackened and windows and balconies smashed.​

 

[Saif]

Kyiv calls for Ukraine ceasefire after Iran truce

Kyiv on Wednesday called on the United States to pressure Russia into ending its invasion of Ukraine, saying Washington’s ceasefire agreement with Iran showed the success of US ‘decisiveness.’...

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Kyiv calls for Ukraine ceasefire after Iran truce
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 09 April, 2026, 01:24

Kyiv on Wednesday called on the United States to pressure Russia into ending its invasion of Ukraine, saying Washington’s ceasefire agreement with Iran showed the success of US ‘decisiveness.’

The war in the Middle East suspended US-led efforts to end the four-year Ukraine war.

The Kremlin also said it now hoped a new round of talks with US and Ukrainian delegations would be possible after Tehran and Washington agreed a two-week ceasefire.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiga wrote on social media: ‘American decisiveness works. We believe it is time for sufficient decisiveness to force Moscow to cease fire and end its war against Ukraine.’

President Volodymyr Zelensky echoed those comments in a later post on social media.

‘Ukraine has always called for a ceasefire in the war waged by Russia here in Europe against our state and our people, and we support the ceasefire in the Middle East and the Gulf that paves the way for diplomatic efforts,’ he wrote.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: ‘We hope that in the foreseeable future they will have more time and more opportunities to meet in a trilateral format. We look forward to this’.

Several rounds of US-led talks have failed to bring the warring sides closer towards an agreement.

Moscow is demanding sweeping territorial and political concessions from Kyiv that Zelensky has ruled out as tantamount to capitulation.

US vice president JD Vance said Wednesday that the Ukraine war was proving ‘the hardest’ to solve.

Speaking during a visit to Budapest, he said Washington would ‘keep on working’ to find a solution and insisted there had been ‘significant progress.’

He also slammed European leaders, saying ‘they don’t seem particularly interested in solving this particular conflict.’

Zelensky added that Ukrainian military teams helping Middle East countries counter Iranian drone attacks would stay in the region.

Kyiv says it has deployed more than 200 military personnel with expertise in downing drones to the region since Iran began retaliatory drone attacks across the Middle East in response to US and Israeli attacks.

‘Ukrainian expert military teams will continue to work in the region to help further develop security capabilities,’ Zelensky wrote on social media.

‘The situation in this region has global implications — any threats to security and stability in the Middle East and the Gulf amplify challenges for the economy and the cost of living in every country,’ he added.

He reiterated readiness to pause strikes on Russian infrastructure if Moscow halted its long-range drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian power plants and grid.

‘Ukraine tells Russia once again: we are ready to respond in kind if the Russians stop their strikes. It is obvious to everyone that a ceasefire can create the right preconditions for agreements,’ Zelensky wrote.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions, making it the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine lets firms deploy air defences

Facing daily barrages of Russian drones and missiles, Ukraine has invited private companies to get their own air-defence systems in a bid to ease the burden on its military...

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Ukraine lets firms deploy air defences
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 10 April, 2026, 01:09


Facing daily barrages of Russian drones and missiles, Ukraine has invited private companies to get their own air-defence systems in a bid to ease the burden on its military.

In an interview with AFP, a senior Ukrainian military official detailed the plan — involving state authorisation and integration into the air force coordination system — hailed as the ‘first’ in the world and that has already resulted in Russian drones being shot down.

The goal is to give businesses ‘the possibility, at their own expense and with their own employees, to protect themselves against aerial threats,’ Yuriy Myronenko, 48, inspector general at the Ukrainian defence ministry and the main architect of the project, said.

Since it invaded in 2022, Russia has regularly launched hundreds of long-range Shahed drones, originally Iranian-designed but now mass-produced in Russia, at Ukraine.

Cheap but lethal, the drones target residential areas and critical infrastructure, sometimes hundreds of kilometres from the front line.

The largest attack since the start of the invasion came at the end of March, when Russia fired nearly 1,000 drones in 24 hours, along with missiles.

Ukraine’s air-defence system — which includes thousands of mobile anti-drone teams — is fairly effective but cannot cover the entire country. That is why the defence ministry has opted to partly outsource the task to private actors, including energy companies, frequently targeted by Russian strikes, logistics firms and security groups to protect their sites.

For now, the Ukrainian authorities have released few details of the plan.

But Myronenko said that 16 firms have received the necessary authorisation and ‘some companies are already shooting down Shaheds’.

‘I think we are the first in the world to create such a system,’ Myronenko said, referring to the plan he said was already yielding results.

‘The first shoot-downs were two weeks ago,’ added the lieutenant-colonel who used to command a drone unit.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, near the front line, one company — unnamed for security reasons — used heavy machine guns mounted on remote-controlled turrets to intercept several Russian drones.

At a centre in an undisclosed location, AFP saw masked instructors from a private security company training would-be drone operators on simulators and computers as part of the initiative.

After the defence ministry published a statement on the matter, ‘dozens’ of other groups contacted the authorities to enquire about the scheme, Myronenko said.

‘We don’t expect private air defence to solve all our problems,’ he conceded. ‘We are forced to take this step because every opportunity to shoot down one, two, three, four, five Shaheds helps.’

Companies wanting to take part must undergo a special authorisation process, including to rule out any Russian ties, before they can purchase weapons and train their staff.

They must also integrate into the air force’s real-time coordination system, a key element of the sophisticated network that manages thousands of air-defence teams.

The special software allows commanders to see ‘who is shooting down what, with which systems, which teams,’ and to locate incoming targets, said Myronenko.

For him, the future of private air defence lies in drone interceptors — small unmanned aircraft designed to destroy incoming drones mid-air.

Under the pressure of relentless attacks, Ukraine has already developed around 50 different interceptor models, an industry that barely existed a year ago.

Intense competition is pushing manufacturers to improve effectiveness while slashing costs, sometimes to less than $1,000 per unit, making them ‘affordable’, Myronenko said.

In the longer term, private companies could even be allowed to acquire weapons capable of downing cruise missiles that Russia frequently uses against Ukraine, such as man-portable air-defence systems, he added.

‘We don’t limit what protective means they can buy,’ he said, adding: ‘because we understand that the war will change in three months, six months.’

The main goal set by defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov — appointed in January — for this year is to ‘detect 100 per cent of all air targets’, both drones and missiles, and ‘shoot down 95 per cent of them,’ up from around 80 per cent currently.

Myronenko called the target ‘absolutely realistic,’ citing the surge in interceptor production, with tens of thousands now being delivered to the army each month.

‘We must clearly demonstrate to Russia that terrorising our population and civilian infrastructure will not work.’​