In the latest attack, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) hit a mining rig at the stagnant oil and gas field Korchagin, damaging facilities and forcing mining activities here to be temporarily suspended, an unnamed source from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) revealed on December 15.
The above UAV attack is the latest development in a series of strikes targeting the Russian energy sector. Kiev has stepped up its deep-range offensive targeting key oil and gas facilities and is now expanding its targets to energy infrastructure in the Caspian Sea, with three attacks in less than a week.
Ukrainian UAVs hit the Filanovsky oil rig on December 11, marking the first time Ukraine has caused damage to Russian oil and gas infrastructure in the Caspie Sea, the source said.
On December 12, Ukrainian UAVs continued to attack the Filanovsky rig, and at the same time hit the Korchagin rig.
The attack caused damage to both facilities and forced the exploitation to stop, the source said.
The two mines are owned by Lukoil - Nizhnevolzhneft, a subsidiary of Russian energy group Lukoil.
The agency is working to reduce key revenue from Russia's energy sector, according to SBU. The Filanovsky field is one of Russia's largest oil fields, with an estimated 129 million tons of oil reserves.
The continued targeting of the two oil platforms in the Caspian Sea is said to show a change in Ukraine's attack strategy, when stepping up strikes on Russia's oil and gas infrastructure.
Over the past few months, Ukraine has mainly attacked Russian refineries, seaports and onland energy facilities. However, in recent weeks, Kiev has expanded its range to sea targets and increased the intensity of its attacks.
Right before the three attacks in the Caspian Sea, Ukraine used naval UAVs carrying explosives to attack three tankers suspected of belonging to the Russian shadow fleet.
