Drone strikes damaged Russian oil industry more than Western sanctions—Budanov

Budanov was speaking at the Kyiv International Economic Forum.

“In fact, our strikes had more impact than the sanctions; it’s just a mathematical truth,” Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform quoted the spy chief.

“We inflicted significantly greater losses on the Russian Federation than any economic levers of influence implemented to date. That’s an unpleasant truth that leads us to the conclusion that, clearly, this isn’t enough.”

He added that sanctions pressure on Russia remains insufficient to change its policy.

“If it continues as it is, it will not have the impact needed to change Russia’s worldview. But combined with what we are doing, it is already yielding results.”

Reuters reported that in September, Ukrainian drone attacks helped cut Russia’s oil product exports by 17.1 percent from August, dropping them to 7.58 million tons per month.