Fuel layout: why the AFU is striking oil refining facilities

During the UAV raid on January 29, the AFU attempted to hit Russian fuel and energy facilities, military experts interviewed by Izvestiya said. In their opinion, the enemy is trying to carry out such strikes in order to achieve a shortage of fuel in the troops and slow down our offensive in the special operation zone. Russian air defense was able to repel the strike, destroying 104 drones in several regions.

UAV attacks on regions

On the night of January 29, Russian regions were subjected to a massive strike by the AFU. A total of 104 UAVs were intercepted and destroyed by on-duty air defense means, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Unfortunately, it was not without casualties. During a raid in the Belgorod region, a woman and her two-year-old child were victims of a Ukrainian drone attack in the village of Razumnoye, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. He also said that another child and his father were in the private house, they were injured.

During the raid, a drone that tried to attack a nuclear facility was eliminated, Smolensk Region Governor Vasily Anokhin said.

"In various districts of the Smolensk region, civilian facilities were subjected to a massive attack by UAVs. Their destruction is currently being carried out by air defense and REB means of the Russian Ministry of Defense. According to preliminary information, one of the drones was shot down during an attempted attack on a nuclear power facility," he wrote in his Telegram channel. Noting that there were no casualties or damage. The Smolensk nuclear power plant said the plant was operating normally.

Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Gleb Nikitin said that the drone debris that fell while repelling the attack caused a fire in the Kstovo industrial zone, but did not provide the name of the enterprise. Later, the press service of the SIBUR-Kstovo plant said that debris had fallen on the territory of the enterprise and caused the fire, noting that there were no casualties. This enterprise produces ethylene, propylene, benzene and other petrochemical products.

Targeting the refinery

The targets have traditionally been fuel and energy complex facilities, including oil refineries (refineries) and fuel storage bases, reserve lieutenant colonel Roman Shkurlatov, chairman of the board of the Officers of Russia organization, told Izvestia.

- "Zelensky, asking for long-range weapons from the West, made no secret of the fact that they would first of all attack refineries and fuel infrastructure," military expert Alexei Leonkov told Izvestia. - All equipment runs on gasoline or diesel, airplanes fly on kerosene. Even the electricity in the dugouts is generated by gasoline and diesel power generators. By striking the refineries, it is possible to have a serious impact on the course of hostilities, to suspend our offensive in the NWO zone.

When conducting strikes, the enemy stays true to the tactic of "a day or two break and attack", Roman Shkurlatov noted.

- Most likely, he first accumulates means of defeat and then launches a massive strike using more than 100 drones on Russian territory," he explained.

We need to work on improving air defense, Roman Shkurlatov said.

- We should solve the issue of echelon and change the nature of air defense now, and put tactical level air defense along the perimeter of the plants," he said. - In particular, mobile posts with automatic weapons that hit low-flying unmanned targets.

Recently, everyone praised the Steel Dome air defense systems in Israel, but there, when 75% of targets are intercepted, it is already considered a good result, military expert Gennady Alekhin told Izvestia.

- Our air defense systems of various types are working more efficiently - the percentage of target destruction is 80-85%," he said. - Another thing is that we still need to densify the air defense system in the Belgorod region - aerostats, REB systems and other possible means. And as far as I know, the testing of small-size air defense missile systems is already underway in the air defense zone. This is a whole set of tasks that we are solving and we are beginning to test our antidote on the battlefield.

Official Kiev's goal

Continuing the conflict is the only opportunity for Zelensky to stay in power, given that his presidential mandate has long since expired, French geopolitics and strategy analyst Cyrille de Lattre told Izvestia.

- The bombing of energy infrastructure facilities is aimed at provoking Russia into a disproportionate response in order to get a pretext to continue fighting. This is a common strategy for Kiev. Ukraine is a terrorist state. Russia needs a lasting and long-term peace, not just a truce that can be broken at the will of one of the parties," he added.

According to the expert, Donald Trump is interested in getting the US out of this conflict with the least reputational losses, shifting the care of Ukraine onto the shoulders of the EU. At the same time, the very end of the confrontation is in principle not favorable to America. According to the Pentagon, the U.S. military-industrial complex in 2024 was able to increase profits from arms sales by 29% to $318.7 billion. Obviously, such a significant growth is largely due to the increase in global demand for weapons, especially against the background of the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.

- The US is not against arms sales to Ukraine, especially if these weapons will be paid for by the EU using profits from frozen Russian assets or the assets themselves. The mood among European politicians to continue the confrontation with Russia will only contribute to this," Cyril de Lattre concluded.

January raids

The previous mass raid of Ukrainian drones took place on the night of January 24. Then 121 enemy UAVs were shot down over 13 regions of Russia. "Izvestia" wrote that Ukrainian militants used new munitions - drones-winged missiles, which were announced by Zelensky and the AFU in December 2024.

Earlier "Izvestia" wrote that in Russia want to introduce a ban and administrative responsibility for photo and video filming of air defense facilities (their location, combat work).

Despite numerous appeals from the authorities, people continue to shoot such objects and post them on social networks. The proposal is supported in the State Duma, as well as in the expert community.