Ukraine attacked two Russian refineries and other key oil targets overnight, officials said, just hours after the United States renewed waivers to sell Moscow oil from sanctioned oil.
Kiev Drone Force Commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdy said in a cable that Ukraine attacked the Novobyshevsk and Syzlan refineries in Russia’s Samara region, the Tihoretsk oil terminal in the Krasnodar region, the Baltic Sea port of Vysotsk and an oil depot in Sevastopol in occupied Crimea.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not acknowledge the attack, only announcing that the country’s air defense system intercepted 258 Ukrainian drones at night.
However, Russian regional authorities reported the attack or its aftermath. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, the governor of the Samara region, said a “strike has been recorded” against what he called “industrial facilities” and emergency services were on the scene.
The Krasnodar Regional Emergency Response Headquarters said that a fire broke out at the Tihoretsk oil depot and that “224 personnel and 56 pieces of equipment” were involved in efforts to control the fire.
Alexander Drozdenko, the governor of the Leningrad region where the port of Vysotsk is located, said on Saturday morning that a drone strike caused a fire at the port, which he said had been extinguished.
Brovdy made no secret of the fact that the attack was in response to a renewed US waiver allowing the delivery and sale of sanctioned seaborne Russian crude until May 16, accusing the US of “cynicism” and warning that the cost of the move would be “Ukrainian lives”.
The U.S. Treasury Department issued the waivers on Friday as the Trump administration desperately tries to ease pressure on global oil prices caused by the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran.
“As negotiations accelerate, the Treasury Department wants to ensure that oil is available to those who need it,” a Treasury spokesman said.
The decision marks the second time the U.S. government has taken the controversial step of allowing Russia to sell sanctioned crude oil and petroleum products stranded at sea. The previous exemption expired on April 11, and Finance Minister Scott Bessent told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not extend it. But on Friday, it did.
Western powers and other allies have imposed sanctions on Russian energy exports because of their key role in financing Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Saturday that extending the exemption would affect 100 million barrels of Russian oil in addition to the 100 million barrels covered by the previous license.
Higher oil prices and exemptions have given Russia’s struggling budget a big boost – the International Energy Agency said earlier this week that Russia’s energy revenue nearly doubled in March to $19 billion from $9.75 billion in February.
CNN’s Tim Lister, Aleena Fayaz and Jennifer Hansler also contributed reporting.
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