Massive drone campaign shows Russians harsh reality yet fails to deter Kremlin
Fire at Moscow oil refinery in Kapotnya (Photo: Exilenova+ / Telegram)
Ukraine's unprecedented drone campaign has reached an extraordinary scale over the past month, bringing the harsh reality of the "special military operation", but still fails to force Moscow to back down in the near future, CNN wrote on June 30.
The publication stated that while the aggressor country, Russia, is on fire, no one should expect Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to change course.
Over the decades, the dictator has built a relatively fragile image of an uncompromising leader — a fact that makes capitulation, retreat, or even compromise in the war against Ukraine highly unlikely and difficult for him, the article noted.
According to the most optimistic Western estimates, Putin's invasion has resulted in over a million people killed or wounded, yet the Russian occupational army has still failed to capture the four Ukrainian oblasts it claims.
Any settlement that Moscow cannot declare as a decisive victory could lead to severe domestic political tensions.
Pro-war figures in Putin's inner circle continue to assure him that Donetsk Oblast can and must be occupied. And this argument does not simply vanish just because Russian oil refineries are burning.
The evident fuel shortage in Russia is a painful reality for the country, but one should still not count on capitulation, CNN concluded.
Fuel crisis in Russia
On June 1, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that since the beginning of the year, Ukrainian attacks had hit 15 Russian refineries, knocking out nearly 40% of Russia's primary oil refining capacity as of May.
According to the Russian propaganda outlet RBC, as of June 29, official restrictions on fuel sales have been implemented in over 40 Russian oblasts, as well as in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Meanwhile, complaints about shortages have poured in from 85 oblasts.
On June 25, The Wall Street Journal wrote that massive Ukrainian UAV attacks were overwhelming Russian air defenses and had knocked out about 20% of Russia's oil refining capacity.
On June 28, dictator Vladimir Putin admitted for the first time that Russia was experiencing gasoline problems following Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries. He claimed that the ban on gasoline exports was introduced "in the interests of domestic consumers."
According to Reuters, the attacks by the Ukrainian Defense Forces have led to severe shortages and a 25% collapse in domestic gasoline production in Russia.
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