Unable to match Putin’s military might, Ukraine is engaging in ‘smart warfare’ to attack the enemy’s oil and gas supply lines
Over the past three weeks, Ukraine has wreaked havoc with Russia’s energy infrastructure. Soon after the new year, someone attached explosives to train carriages in the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil. A blast took place next to facilities owned by Gazprom Neft, the country’s third biggest oil producer. Next, a kamikaze drone crashed into an oil depot in the Oryol region.
On 18 January, another oil terminal, in St Petersburg – Vladimir Putin’s home city – came under attack. It was the first time since the invasion in February 2022 that unmanned aerial vehicles had reached the Leningrad region.
There was more to come. A large-scale fire broke out at an oil depot in the town of Klintsy, not far from Belarus and Ukraine.
I hate how fighting one state's oil exports will probably raise the price of oil and make other oil cartels more money. Hopefully though it will have a big economic impact in Russia, which would make it very worthwhile.
IMO it will likely drive the price in countries that still directly buy cheap russian oil. So russia and India. There might be some price increase that will bubble up to the western countries, but it's probably not going to be huge.
The only way forward is to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. This is not only good for the environment but also helps to make the autocrats in the oil producing countries less powerful.