On the night of January 11, Ukraine launched attacks on 3 oil rigs off the Caspian Sea owned by the Russian oil and gas group Lukoil, in the latest move to reduce the financial capacity to serve Moscow's military operation.
According to a statement from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces posted on the official Telegram channel, 3 drilling rigs named V. Filanovsky, Yuri Korchagin and Valery Grayfe were directly hit.
The extent of damage is still being assessed. This is not the first time these facilities have become targets, as Ukraine said they have been attacked many times in December.
Lukoil has not made an official comment on this information. Response requests sent to the major Russian oil and gas group outside of normal working hours have not been received.
Targeting oil rigs in the Caspian Sea is considered a noteworthy escalation, because this area has rarely appeared in direct conflict information before.
At the same time, Kiev said it had launched a separate operation in eastern Ukraine. Accordingly, Ukrainian forces raided a Buk-M3 medium-range air defense missile launcher in the Lugansk province controlled by Russia. Preliminary information shows that the target was hit many times, accompanied by large explosions.
In the south, another strike targeting the logistics warehouse of a material and technical assurance unit in Kherson province has also been deployed.
The goal of this operation, according to Ukraine, is to disrupt the supply chain, thereby directly affecting the combat capability of Russian forces on the battlefield.
In recent months, Kiev has increased attacks targeting oil refineries, oil and gas ports, transshipment ports at sea and even the "dark shadow" fleet accused of helping Russia evade international sanctions.
The overarching goal of this strategy is to cut energy export revenue - a key factor in helping Moscow maintain its budget for conflict.
In the opposite direction, Russia also continuously focuses firepower on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Many power plants, transformer stations and heat supply facilities have become targets in airstrikes and attacks by missiles and drones. The consequence is widespread power outages and shortages of heat, especially in winter, putting great pressure on the lives of Ukrainian civilians.
Meanwhile, in Russian territory, UAV attacks (unmanned aerial vehicles) are also increasing in intensity. Local authorities said that a Ukrainian UAV attack overnight killed 1 person and injured at least 4 others in the city of Voronezh, southwestern Russia.
Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said Russian air defense forces shot down or neutralized 17 UAVs in the attack, which he described as one of the largest UAV attacks targeting the city since the conflict broke out.
