KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military claimed Monday it struck a major oil terminal in Crimea that supplies fuel for Russia’s war effort. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the war has entered a key phase.
Both sides are faced with the question of how to sustain their costly war of attrition – a conflict that began with Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and that shows no signs of resolution.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on social media that the oil terminal in Feodosia, on the southern coast of the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, had been supplying fuel to the Russian army and that the attack was part of an ongoing attempt to “decrease military and military power to undermine”. economic potential of the Russian Federation.”
Russian-installed authorities in the city of Feodosia on the Black Sea coast reported a fire at the terminal on Monday morning, but did not say what might have caused it.
Ukraine has increasingly focused on rear areas key to the Russian attack, now well into its third year. It has developed long-range drones that have hit oil depots, refineries and armories alike.
Ukraine’s aim is to hamper Russia’s ability to support its frontline units, especially in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia’s main battleground battle is stretching tired Ukrainian forces.
Kiev is still awaiting word from its Western partners on its repeated requests to use the long-range weapons it supplies to hit targets on Russian territory.
Developments in this area could take place next weekend at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, when defense leaders from the more than 50 partner countries coordinating military aid to Ukraine will meet.
The conflict has largely been a war of attrition, requiring large quantities of ammunition. Zelensky said late on Sunday that the war is in a “very important phase” as the Ukrainian army works hard to hold off larger Russian forces in the east, while also holding out in the Russian border region of Kursk, which it has two captured months ago.
Ukraine must “put pressure on Russia in the way necessary to make Russia realize that the war will not gain them anything,” Zelensky said in a video statement.
“We will continue to exert even greater pressure on Russia – because only through strength can we bring peace closer,” he added.
Meanwhile, Russia fired six missiles of different types and 74 Shahed drones at Ukraine last night, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
Rocket debris fell in three districts of Kiev, causing minor damage to civilian infrastructure and causing fires, Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said. He said no one was injured. Three rocket fragments fell on a kindergarten, he said, without elaborating.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down nearly 20 Ukrainian drones in one night.
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