Ukraine strikes Russian oil refineries hours after US waives sanctions on Moscow’s oil
Ukraine attacked two Russian refineries and other key oil targets by Saturday, just hours after the United States gave Moscow the go-ahead, officials said. another disclaimer Concerning the sale of approved oil.
Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, commander of Kiev’s drone forces, said on Telegram that Ukraine had hit the Novokuybyshevsk and Syzran oil refineries in Russia’s Samara region, the Tikhoretsk oil terminal in the Krasnodar region and the port of Vysotsk on the Baltic Sea, and an oil depot in Sevastopol in occupied Crimea.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not acknowledge the attacks and announced only that the country’s air defense intercepted 258 Ukrainian drones overnight.
However, Russian regional authorities reported the attacks and their consequences. Samara region governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said “strikes were recorded” at what he called “industrial facilities” and that emergency services were on the scene.
The Emergency Response Headquarters of the Krasnodar region said that a fire broke out at the oil depot in Tikhoretsk and that “224 personnel and 56 pieces of equipment” were involved in containing the fire.
Aleksandr Drozdenko, governor of the Leningrad region where the Vysotsk port is located, said in a statement on Saturday morning that a drone attack caused a fire in the port and the fire has since been extinguished.
Brovdi made no secret of the fact that the strikes were in response to a renewed US exemption allowing the delivery and sale of sanctioned seaborne Russian crude oil by May 16, accusing the US of “cynicism” and warning that the move would come with the price tag of “Ukrainian lives”.
The US Treasury issued the waiver on Friday as the Trump administration desperately tries to ease the pressure on global oil prices from the US and Israel’s war against Iran.
“As negotiations accelerate, the Treasury wants to ensure oil reaches those who need it,” a U.S. Treasury Department spokesman said.
The decision marked the second time the administration has taken the controversial step of allowing Russia to sell sanctioned crude oil and oil products stranded at sea. The previous exemption expired April 11, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters Wednesday that the administration would not renew it. But on Friday, he did just that.
Western powers and other allies have imposed sanctions on Russian energy exports because of their key role in financing Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Saturday that the exemption extension would affect 100 million barrels of Russian oil, in addition to the 100 million barrels under the previous licence.
High oil prices and exemptions have already provided a big boost to Russia’s struggling budget – the International Energy Agency said earlier this week that Russia’s energy revenues nearly doubled to $19 billion in March from $9.75 billion in February.
CNN’s Tim Lister, Aleena Fayaz and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting.
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