Ukraine’s Defence Ministry released a statement on April 2, 2026, headlined ‘Hellish strikes on Russia: the Defence Forces of Ukraine hit five strategic plants and ten oil refining facilities in March’. The statement, which listed the Russian oil installations Ukraine had attacked, said, “each such strike on Russia was part of a systematic effort to dismantle the enemy’s war machine”.
Ever since the U.S. temporarily waived off sanctions on Russian oil in March in the wake of a global oil crisis following its attack on Iran, Ukraine has been wary of the gains its adversary would make.
In March, Kyiv stepped up attacks on Russian refineries, hoping to limit the windfall Moscow is now reaping from high crude oil prices. The Ukrainian Defence Ministry called the campaign “one of the largest in terms of the number of strategic enterprises struck”.
According to a New York Times report, “The most significant strikes have hit Russia’s Baltic ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, which handle roughly 40% of the country’s seaborne crude exports. Local authorities reported damage at both ports, and the number of tankers loading oil there has plummeted…”
While the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said that “blocking oil and petroleum product exports via the Baltic Sea deprives the Russian budget of billions of dollars that are directly converted into missiles and ammunition”, the NYT report said that the “reality is more complicated”.
“[This is]…because Russia taxes oil extraction, not oil sales. That means striking ports and tankers hurts companies selling and shipping the oil, but could leave the government’s revenue nearly intact,” the report said.
Hitting Russia’s oil exports can drive up global prices in a market strained by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and benefit Russia. “Russia’s tax rate on oil extraction is tied to market prices, so higher prices equal higher government revenue,” the report said.
Ukraine’s plan
Attacking refineries to choke Russia’s oil economy has always been a part of Ukraine’s strategy in the conflict that has been raging since 2022. On February 24, 2026, its Defence Ministry released ‘War plan: our steps to force Russia into peace’, which said that Russia is continuing to fight because it has the money.
“The source (of the money) is oil. Russia sells it all over the world through the so-called ‘shadow fleet’. This is the very budget that finances the war. If this channel is blocked, the resources for war will sharply decrease,” it said. The Ministry listed strengthening sanctions, a strategy to counter the shadow fleet and joint action with partners at sea among steps to execute the plan.
The NYT report quoted an expert and said that “strikes in the last week of March had cost Russia more than $500 million in damage to oil storage facilities and reduced export revenues for Russian companies by $745 million”, but added that the figures could not be independently verified.
Russian war chest
On March 13, 2026, after the U.S. sanctions waiver on Russian oil, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that allowing Moscow to sell crude oil was “not the right decision”. “This easing alone by the United States could provide Russia with about $10 billion for the war,” he had said. “This certainly does not help peace.”
According to figures published by the Russian Ministry of Finance on April 3, 2026, Moscow’s revenue from oil and gas has jumped from 432.3 billion roubles ($5.49 billion) in February 2026 to 617 billion roubles ($7.84 billion) in March. In January, it was 393.3 billion roubles ($4.99 billion).
India, one of its prime buyers, has increased the import of Russian crude by 90% in March compared to February. And the Kremlin, on Tuesday (April 7), boasted how the world is lining up for Russian crude.
“Now that the world has confidently embarked on the path of a rather serious economic and energy crisis, which is growing day by day, the market and market conditions in the field of energy and energy resources have completely changed,” Reuters quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
“There are a huge number of requests for the purchase of our energy resources from alternative sources. We are negotiating, we are negotiating in such a way that this situation best suits our interests.” And not that of Ukraine.
Published – April 07, 2026 05:59 pm IST
