Ukraine is expanding its campaign of trying to cut the Kremlin off from its oil export income with a campaign of targeting Russia’s oil refining and pipeline assets, using its new long-range drones and missiles.

Refineries representing almost half Russia’s oil product production capacity have been hit in the last month and a half. On September 11-12, more than 30 Ukrainian drones targeted Russia’s biggest oil terminal, Primorsk, which is responsible for most of Russia’s Siberian oil exports leaving from its western shores. Primorsk is Russia’s main hub for the export of crude oil and diesel, serving as the terminus of the Baltic Pipeline System. The port has the capacity to handle up to 58mn tonnes of oil annually and can receive supertankers with a deadweight of as much as 150,000 tonnes.

This year the conflict has transitioned from a drone war to a missile war with both sides targeting economic and military high value deep in each other’s territory. Ukraine has been targeting Russian refineries in particular, after oil sanctions imposed by its Western allies have proven to be largely ineffective.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100% secondary sanctions on Russia’s oil export customers – mainly India and China – but over the weekend qualified that, saying he would only do so if Europe also imposed the same sanctions that include 100% tariffs on China and India if they fail to halt Russian crude imports. The White House already doubled tariffs to 50% on India in August for refusing to cut Russian imports.

Separately US Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick announced on September 13 they will push to attach a new Russian sanctions bill to a must-pass government funding measure, as leading US politicians become increasingly frustrated with Trump’s refusal to impose any US sanctions on Russia. Previously, Graham sponsored a bi-partisan sanctions bill that would have imposed 500% secondary tariffs on Russia. That initiative would have become law, controlled by Congress, but Trump hijacked the initiative by proposing his 100% secondary tariffs, which were a presidential executive order that he controls personally. Now Graham is again proposing a Congress-backed bill to impose new sanctions on Russia.

The proposed legislation, known as the “Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025”, has been stalled in Congress for months but is now going ahead as it is linked to a funding bill needed to increase borrowing to avoid a government shutdown.

“Now it’s time for our European allies to step up and pull their weight,” Graham said in an interview on US TV.

Trump’s change of tack came following the coalition of the willing Paris summit on September 4, which ended in disaster after the US president refused to back the European plan to send peacekeepers to Ukraine and instead insisted on new EU oil sanctions.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ruled out secondary sanctions, the possibility of which was briefly discussed for inclusion in the nineteenth sanctions package, during her EU State of the Union address (video, transcript) on September 10.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) also hit the post of Ust-Luga in the Baltic Sea, one of the main terminuses, knocking it out of action for at least a week. The attacks have reduced Russia’s oil refined product output by at least 20% and caused a domestic fuel crisis, but have not affected oil product exports so far.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the members of the AFU in his nightly video post.

“Today I want to especially thank all our warriors who are inflicting truly significant losses on Russia. Losses at the front. Losses along the border. Losses on Russia’s own territory thanks to our long-range strikes. The most effective sanctions – the ones that work the fastest – are the fires at Russia’s oil refineries, its terminals, oil depots. To significantly restrict Russia’s oil industry is to significantly restrict the war,” Zelenskiy said.

“Russia’s war is essentially a function of oil, of gas, of all its other energy resources. I thank the special forces of the Security Service of Ukraine, who did a great job in Primorsk recently, hitting Russia’s largest oil terminal on the Baltic Sea. There is substantial damage; everything has been verified. And this is tangible for the enemy,” he added.

“Our special forces are also keeping an eye on the port of Ust-Luga and all other Russian points of access to the world market. Today, the Security Service of Ukraine’s drones are capable of operating at distances of more than a thousand kilometres. The Special Operations Forces, the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the Defence Intelligence are also involved. I thank them all for their accuracy,” he concluded.

Ukraine has now conducted 17 strikes on 12 Russian oil refineries in 45 days, the Ministry of Defence reports. These refineries represent 42% of total oil refining capacity in Russia:

August 2

1. Novokuybyshevsk Oil Refinery

2. Ryazan Oil Refinery

August 7

3. Afipsky Oil Refinery

August 10

4. Saratov Oil Refinery

August 14

5. Volgograd Oil Refinery

August 15

6. Syzran Oil Refinery

August 19

7. Volgograd Oil Refinery (2nd strike)

August 21

8. Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery

August 24 (2nd strike)

9. Syzran Oil Refinery

August 28

10. Kuibyshev Oil Refinery

11. Afipsky Oil Refinery (2nd strike)

August 30

12. Krasnodar Oil Refinery

13. Syzran Oil Refinery (3rd strike)

September 5

14. Ryazan Oil refinery (2nd strike)

September 7

15. Ilsky Oil Refinery

September 13

16. Novo-Ufa Oil Refinery

September 14

17. Kirishi Oil Refinery