Ukraine’s Deep Drone Campaign Hits 35 Russian Ships and Multiple Oil Depots, Testing Moscow’s War Economy
Ukrainian forces say they have struck 35 Russian tankers and cargo ships in the Sea of Azov in four days while also hitting oil depots hundreds of kilometers inside Russia, from Tver to Stavropol and Ufa. The campaign turns Russia’s fuel network and shadow fleet into front‑line targets, raising new risks for energy flows, coastal communities and Moscow’s ability to sustain its war.
Russia’s war is supposed to be fought on Ukrainian soil. This week, Ukraine pushed that assumption far out to sea and deep into Russian territory, turning tankers and oil depots into deliberate targets of a widening drone war that now reaches more than 1,000 kilometers beyond the front line.
Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed that overnight, its forces struck 12 Russian oil tankers, a cargo ship and a tugboat in the Sea of Azov, and said this brought the total number of vessels hit over the past four days to 35. Footage released by Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces showed drones diving onto at least 14 vessels, including 12 tankers, in the confined waters north of the Kerch Strait. Commander Robert Magyar of the Unmanned Systems Forces claimed that 35 Russian oil tankers, cargo ships and ferries have been struck in that period, including assets described in Kyiv as part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” supporting military logistics.
On land, Ukrainian long‑range drones have been hitting the infrastructure that fills those tankers. Ukrainian officials and local Russian authorities reported major fires at several oil facilities: the Lukoil‑Yugnefteprodukt oil depot in Mikhaylovsk in Russia’s Stavropol Krai, the TVERNEFTEPRODUKT depot in the Tver region between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and other fuel storage and pumping sites in Russia’s Rostov region and near Ufa, almost 1,500 kilometers from Ukraine’s border. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, and defense forces successfully struck two oil depots in Stavropol and Tver and a fuel storage facility about 800 kilometers from the frontline, describing the operations as part of a deliberate effort to degrade Russia’s war machine.
Russian regional officials confirmed that tanks with combustible materials had caught fire in Mikhaylovsk and that nearby residents were moved to safety. In Tver, authorities acknowledged a large blaze at the Rosneft‑operated depot that serves as a distribution hub for gasoline and diesel between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Details on casualties or the full extent of infrastructure damage remained limited by early afternoon, but visible flames and smoke in local footage underscored the physical scale of the attacks.
For Russian sailors and port workers around the Sea of Azov, the new reality is stark: ships that once moved under cover of Russia’s de facto control of the waterway are now being hunted at night by mid‑range drones. For communities living near refineries and storage sites deep inside Russia, the war no longer feels distant; alarms, evacuations, and queues at gas stations in hit regions are becoming part of daily life as infrastructure once assumed safe comes under repeated attack.
Strategically, Ukraine is trying to shift the cost calculus of Russia’s invasion by hitting what Moscow has treated as a secure rear—fuel, logistics and the shipping that underpin both the Russian military and the country’s export economy. Strikes on depots in Stavropol, Tver, Ufa and Rostov region challenge Russia’s assumption that distance and air defenses are enough to shield critical energy assets. In the enclosed Sea of Azov, targeting tankers and support vessels threatens internal Russian supply routes to occupied territories and complicates the flow of oil and grain exports that Moscow uses to earn revenue and influence markets.
Russia has responded by stepping up its own long‑range pressure, launching what Ukraine’s Air Force said were 2 Iskander‑M ballistic missiles and 94 drones overnight, with Ukrainian defenses downing or suppressing 72 drones but still reporting impacts from 2 missiles and 19 drones across 13 locations. Moscow’s delivery of new Su‑30SM2 multirole fighters and Su‑34 fighter‑bombers to its Aerospace Forces, announced by Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation, is another signal that the Kremlin intends to sustain and adapt its long‑range strike capacity despite losses.
The emerging pattern is a war that no longer has a clear “rear area” for either side. Oil depots and tankers, once economic infrastructure, are being treated as legitimate military targets by Ukraine because of their direct role in fueling Russian units and moving sanctioned cargo. For global markets and insurers, the message is that risk now extends into previously safe basins like the Sea of Azov and into fuel corridors that feed Russia’s domestic and export systems.
The shareable truth is this: for Moscow, distance from the front is no longer a guarantee of safety; for Kyiv, the ability to reach Russia’s fuel and shipping network is a way to trade geography for leverage. The next indicators to watch are whether Ukraine sustains this tempo against Russia’s “shadow fleet,” how Moscow tries to harden or reroute its inland fuel logistics, and whether any of these strikes trigger measurable disruptions in regional fuel prices or shipping routes in and out of the Azov and Black Seas.
Sources
- OSINT