In a dramatic escalation of its campaign against Russian energy infrastructure, Ukraine has unleashed a record wave of long-range drone strikes throughout November and early December 2025, targeting oil refineries, export terminals, and even the elusive shadow fleet tankers that help Russia skirt international sanctions. The relentless barrage, stretching from the Black Sea to the Ural Mountains, has not only inflicted unprecedented physical damage but also triggered a financial shockwave that threatens the core of Russia’s war economy and its ability to sustain its military operations.
According to reporting by Euromaidan Press, Ukrainian forces achieved a new milestone on December 6, 2025, with a series of strikes that marked the most damaging month for Russian oil infrastructure since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Ukrainian intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov highlighted the scale of the campaign, noting that since the start of 2025, Ukraine has executed more than 160 successful attacks on Russian oil facilities. By the end of November, that figure soared past 180, with at least 14 confirmed strikes on refineries and four on critical Black Sea port infrastructure. If this tempo continues, Ukraine is on track to exceed 200 attacks this year—almost one every single day.
The cumulative effect of these strikes is staggering. Russia now faces a 20% domestic fuel shortage, forcing the Kremlin to ban gasoline exports through the end of the year. Daily refinery capacity has plummeted to roughly 5 million barrels and is expected to fall further as fresh damage accumulates. According to Euromaidan Press, Russia’s oil-product processing has dropped by 25 percent, a devastating blow for a war economy that relies heavily on energy revenues to fund both military and social spending.
The financial consequences are already apparent. Even before new U.S. sanctions took effect, Russian oil giant Rosneft reported a 70 percent collapse in net income for the first nine months of 2025—down to just $3.57 billion. The company cited rising interest rates and security expenses, but the true driver, analysts say, is the unrelenting Ukrainian strikes on refineries, depots, and transport terminals. With new sanctions now in place, Russia’s seaborne crude exports have fallen to a four-week average of 3.36 million barrels a day, the lowest since August, and export revenues have dropped to their weakest point since April 2023.
Nowhere is this disruption more visible than at Russia’s southern refineries and Black Sea ports. The Afipsky refinery near Krasnodar, a key supplier of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel for Russian military districts, has suffered repeated drone hits. Ukrainian naval drones recently disabled an offshore loading pier at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk, inflicting critical structural damage and forcing the rerouting of crude exports. Multiple drone and missile raids on Novorossiysk itself have halted up to 2% of global oil supplies, damaged air-defense systems, and temporarily shut down export operations around the port.
According to UATV English, the November strike on Novorossiysk’s “Sheshkharis” terminal was particularly significant. Satellite imagery confirmed the destruction of two berthing lines and parts of the pumping station, slowing oil loading operations to a crawl and causing tankers to queue in the port. This congestion is not just an inconvenience; every hour of halted loading translates into tens of thousands of lost barrels and millions of dollars in missed revenue. The strike also accelerated a global market shift, with Urals crude prices falling to their lowest point in three years due to weakening demand and rising supply risks. The heightened risk premium on Russian shipments is making international buyers increasingly hesitant to do business with Moscow.
Bohdan Popov, Head of Digital at the United Ukraine Think Tank, explained that the Sheshkharis terminal is a critical hub for Russian oil exports, handling crude from the Volga region, Western Siberia, and Kazakhstan. It serves as the final gateway for millions of tons of monthly exports—a lifeline for the Russian federal budget. Popov warns that if the “strike–repair–restore–strike again” cycle becomes routine, Russia may be forced to divert exports back to the Baltic route, which is slower, more expensive, and plagued by logistical bottlenecks. Such a shift would further widen the discount on Russian oil and shrink profits, pushing Moscow into an increasingly untenable position.
Ukraine’s campaign has also reached the shadow fleet—sanctioned tankers that transport Russian oil in defiance of Western restrictions. On December 6, two such vessels, the Kairos and Virat, were badly damaged off Türkiye by Ukrainian naval drones. Both were struck while sailing empty, avoiding an ecological disaster but sending a clear message: even Russia’s illicit oil fleet is no longer safe. This development underscores that international sanctions are not the only threat facing Russia’s oil exports.
Major refineries across Russia have not been spared. The Saratov refinery, operated by Rosneft, suffered repeated strikes that halted operations after fires gutted core processing units. The Novokuybyshevsk refinery in Samara was hit twice in November, knocking out major equipment and a nearby substation. The Ryazan mega-refinery—one of the largest in the country and responsible for producing 840,000 tons of jet fuel annually for the Russian air force—was repeatedly targeted, with confirmed strikes on secondary processing units and jet-fuel capacity. Additional attacks hit refineries in Syzran, Ilsky, Nizhnekamsk, Kstovo, Orsk, and Volgograd, each confirmed by footage of explosions and fires.
The Tuapse export terminal, another major Black Sea facility handling 7 million tons of oil annually, has been struck multiple times. In one attack, 12 Ukrainian drones destroyed a small vessel and set four tankers ablaze, carrying more than 100,000 tons of oil. Russian air defenses failed to intercept the drones, and, in a tragic twist, ended up striking residential buildings instead, even as officials claimed all incoming drones had been neutralized.
Ukraine’s long-range drones have also targeted petrochemical hubs at Stavrolen, Sterlitamak, and Kazan, degrading production sites essential for Russia’s missile, drone, and ammunition manufacturing. In Russian-occupied Crimea and Donbas, drones repeatedly hit the Feodosia Sea Oil Terminal, Krymneftesbyt depots, Bityumne, Komsomolskoye, Shakhtarsk, and a fuel train at Dovzhansk-Rozkishne, directly strangling the logistics supporting Russian frontline operations.
As Euromaidan Press and UATV English both observe, the combination of relentless Ukrainian strikes and tightening U.S. sanctions is crushing Russia’s war financing from two sides. Internally, precision attacks are destroying its ability to function, while externally, sanctions are cutting off its remaining global buyers. The damage at Novorossiysk’s Sheshkharis terminal, in particular, is seen by experts as an early warning that the war has entered a new phase—one where Russia’s energy sector faces existential pressure, and the Kremlin’s assurances of “complete control” look increasingly out of touch with reality.
For now, with Ukrainian drones striking almost daily and Russia’s oil revenues in free fall, the world is witnessing a dramatic shift in the dynamics of the conflict—one where the battle for energy infrastructure may prove just as decisive as any fought on the frontlines.
