Ukraine hits key fuel pipeline that supplies Russian forces, military intelligence says

Ukraine struck a major pipeline near Moscow that fuels the Russian army, with its military intelligence boasting it’s done more damage to Russia’s oil industry than international pressures.

“Our strikes have had more impact than sanctions,” said Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, on Telegram Saturday.

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“It’s just a mathematical truth. We caused much greater damage to the Russian Federation through direct action than any economic levers of influence that had been introduced on them until now.”

Forces struck the Koltsevoy pipeline ovenight into Saturday, which supplies the Moscow’s troops with a combined 60 million barrels of gas, diesel and jet fuel from refineries across Russia — spanning 250 miles. 

The strikes destroyed all three fuel lines, Ukraine’s military intelligence said, describing it as a “serious blow” to Russia’s war machine.

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They’re part of Ukraine’s intensifying efforts to directly target Russia’s warfare infrastructure.

Ukraine has made close to 160 successful strikes against oil facilities across Russia this year, according to its Security Service.

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“Oil extraction and refining make up around 90% of Russia’s defense budget,” Security Service chief Vasyl Maliuk said at a press briefing in Kyiv Friday, according to the Kyiv Independent. “These are the dirty petro-rubles funding the war against us.”

“These are legitimate military targets.”

Maliuk said Russia’s domestic fuel shortage is nearing 20%. It’s prompted Moscow to ban exports of refined oil products until the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry claimed Saturday that it defeated Ukrainian special forces that were rushed to the frontline city of Pokrovsk — a key focal point in the coveted Donetsk region.

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Both countries have shared conflicting accounts of what is happening in the battleground after a year of fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted Friday that Ukraine is weeding out the Russian units that have infiltrated the city. 

“The situation in Pokrovsk is difficult,” Zelensky said at a press briefing in Kyiv. “There are Russians in Pokrovsk. They are being destroyed, gradually destroyed, because, well, we need to preserve our personnel.”

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Russia has deployed around 170,000 troops in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Zelensky said, in a push to seize control of it entirely. 

A key goal for strongman Vladimir Putin has been to take all of Ukraine’s industrial heartland of Donbas, made up of the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.

Russia currently occupies 99% of Luhansk and 72% of Donetsk, according to the latest estimates by the Institute for the Study of War. 

If captured, Pokrovsk would be the largest city taken by Russian forces in more than two years of fighting.

With Post Wires