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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that intensified Ukrainian long-range drone attacks were inflicting increasing damage on Russia’s economy and energy sector as Kiev seeks to bring the war back onto Russian territory.<\/p>\n
“We are bringing Russia’s war of aggression back home \u2013 to the only place it came from,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address. He pointed to the sharp increase in Ukrainian drone operations deep inside Russia.<\/p>\n
“There was a time when dozens of Ukrainian drones striking Russia was a big deal. Now, hundreds of our long-range sanctions every day are no longer a sensation, but they are always welcome and useful news,” he said.<\/p>\n
Zelensky said the attacks, particularly against Russia’s oil production and refining infrastructure, were having a tangible impact. Citing a Ukrainian intelligence report, he said Russian oil refining had fallen by around 10% in recent months.<\/p>\n
Russian oil companies were increasingly being forced to shut down wells, he added. “For them, losing production is truly very painful,” Zelensky said.<\/p>\n
Russia’s military late on Monday launched strikes against Ukrainian refinery infrastructure, according to Ukraine’s state-owned energy company Naftogaz.<\/p>\n
Naftogaz chief Serhii Koretskyi said on Facebook that unspecified facilities belonging to the group in the Dnipropetrovsk region had been hit and damaged by missiles and drones. He said the full extent of the damage was not yet clear.<\/p>\n
Zelensky said the strain on Russia’s state finances caused partly by the Ukrainian attacks would gradually force Moscow to end the war.<\/p>\n
“Already now, a significant number of their regions are in a state of bankruptcy, and [President Vladimir] Putin is leading Russia toward bankruptcy,” he said, citing an intelligence assessment whose details he did not disclose.<\/p>\n
Russia’s war against Ukraine, now in its fifth year, has placed a heavy financial burden on Moscow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n