Hi, I’m Yves. Ukrainian power company DTEK has confirmed another successful attack on a thermal power plant, but the claims of damage to Ukrainian and Russian energy assets cannot be verified by your humble blogger.
There are certainly photos of large fires at Russian refineries on Twitter, which are described as mostly storage fires, but I have yet to hear any commentators (albeit Ukraine skeptics) mention these fires, which suggests that the fires are not as significant as the images suggest.
There is also a tendency in Ukraine, and in Western officials and media that rely on information from the Ukrainian government, to greatly exaggerate the effects of drone and missile attacks. For example (as Brian Berletic detailed in a recent talk), Ukraine has claimed to have caused substantial damage to Russian air defense systems. Berletic noted how many aircraft were allegedly attacked, that the damage was minor, and that Russia has sufficient parts and production capacity for these systems (i.e., to be able to replace them in their entirety, although recent cases suggest that this has never been necessary).
So I would discount Ukraine’s claims of significant damage, but I have a large readership of Russian Telegram, and many Russian military bloggers are very critical of the way the war is being waged, and would not hesitate to report that damage would have been significant if it were true, so I hope readers can help me validate this account.
From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Oil prices
- Russia has attacked Ukraine with missiles and drones, targeting energy infrastructure and causing increased power outages in several regions.
- Ukrainian drones have struck deep into Russia, setting oil facilities on fire in the Tambov Oblast and the Republic of Adygea.
- The attack has escalated the conflict, causing significant damage to energy facilities on both sides and reporting civilian casualties.
Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles and drones last night, damaging energy infrastructure and causing further power outages, while Ukrainian drones have reportedly struck deep into Russian territory, starting fires at oil facilities in two regions.
Ukraine’s state-owned power company Ukrenelho Said Four regions were reported to have been targeted in the latest Russian drone and missile attacks in the early hours of June 20th.
“Energy facilities in the Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Kyiv regions were damaged,” Ukrenero said in a Telegram message.
Thermal power plants Persistent Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said the Russian attack had caused “severe damage.” “This is the seventh major attack on its thermal power plants in the past three months,” DTEK said. Said Three workers were injured in the attack, the company said in a Telegram message, without disclosing the location of the facility.
Ucrenelho said the latest series of strikes in Russia has also led to an increase in the number of planned power outages for domestic consumers, but added that electricity supplies to critical infrastructure will not be restricted.
Meanwhile, the air force reported that Russia had attacked Ukraine with nine missiles and 27 drones, although the Ukrainian military said that all five drones and missiles were shot down by Ukrainian air defense forces.
Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure, causing extensive damage, restricting power supplies to the civilian population, and causing regular blackouts.
In retaliation, Ukrainian drones struck deeper into Russian territory, damaging energy facilities, primarily oil facilities, that are crucial to Moscow’s military operations.
According to Ukrainian security sources, on June 20, drones belonging to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) attacked a fuel and lubricants warehouse in Russia’s Tambov Region, about 400 kilometers southeast of Moscow, and a LUKoil oil depot in the Republic of Adygea in the North Caucasus, setting both warehouses on fire. Said Wi-Fi.
The Baza channel, which has ties to Russian security services, Confirmed A fire broke out at the Platonov oil depot in Tambov.
Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region, said a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban completely destroyed a civilian home and killed one local resident.
The SBU told RFE/RL that drones have carried out nearly 30 successful attacks on Russian oil facilities in different regions since the start of the war.
None of the claims could be independently verified.
