Elite Kyiv drone teams crippled more than 100 crucial Russian vessels in less than a fortnight, smashing the Kremlin’s war chest, bringing the crisis home to Putin’s people and cutting off troops
Ukraine’s drone teams have targeted 20 Russian ships overnight, bringing the total number of attacks on Moscow’s fleet to 136 in just nine days.
Furious Kremlin chiefs have vowed they will avenge the latest Ukrainian attacks and Ukrainian cities are bracing for retaliatory missile and drone attacks.
The Ukrainian attacks are freezing traffic through the Kerch Strait, which separates Crimea’s Kerch Peninsula from Russia’s Taman Peninsula.
It has shattered Russian President Vladimir Putin ’s maritime ambitions – forcing Moscow to seek other trading routes. Among the overnight sea targets for Ukraine were 17 oil tankers in the Black Sea in another major blow to Putin’s warchest as his illegal energy trade is paying for the war.
After pulverising oil refineries and gas depots throughout Russia for months Ukraine is also trying to cripple the Kremlin’s ability to buy weapons and supply its frontline troops.
Despite the Kremlin’s repeated attacks on Ukrainian civilians Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called the Ukrainian assaults “acts of terrorism”.
In response to the refinery attacks Putin has warned Moscow would respond to Ukrainian attacks on its territory with retaliatory strikes that would be “several times more powerful.”
Ukraine threatening the Kerch Strait is also forcing Russia’s war chiefs to divert defences away from the front and steadily isolating the occupied Crimea peninsula.
Sources have suggested to the Mirror that Kyiv’s drone specialists have been instructed not to totally destroy the vessels, forcing crews to attempt costly repair schedules.
At the same time it is driving up the cost of insuring the vessels. Occupied Crimea remains a major logistical hub for Russian forces operating in the highly fought-over Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions within Ukraine. Fuel, ammunition and equipment move through the peninsula by road, railway and sea.
The campaign is intended to restrict fuel deliveries to Russian forces and occupied Crimea while alternative land routes remain exposed to Ukrainian strikes.
And within Russia major petrol queues at stations throughout the country have started, along with rationing, sparking mini-riots and brawls among frustrated drivers.
One security source told the Daily Mirror: “The attacks on oil and gas distribution on land and trading vessels at sea has had a multi-faceted effect on Putin’s war effort.
“Practically it reduces revenue, whilst driving up cost and risk whilst at the same time spreading the message throughout Russia that this war is costing ordinary people.
“Plus by isolating Crimea and making it a much less viable route into Ukraine for supply trucks this is severely hampering Russian forces in terms of not getting supplies quickly.
“Kyiv is cutting off the fuel for Putin’s war machine and it will be having a devastating effect on the morale of his troops, which was already at an all-time low.”
At least three people were killed by Russian guided aerial bombs, also known as smart bombs, in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region in Moscow’s latest attacks. Seven others were wounded.
