The Daily Populous Tuesday January 28th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by kyivinsider.com and submitted by strimholov

Russian air defenses are now seemingly unable to cope with the increasing scale of Ukraine’s nightly drone barrages, as only two nights of strikes were sufficient to destroy 5% of the country’s entire refining capacity.

Russia’s Ryazan oil refinery has ceased operations following two Ukrainian drone attacks this week. The assaults ignited oil storage tanks and damaged key infrastructure, including a railway loading rack and a hydrotreater unit, which is essential for removing impurities from refined products. The Ryazan refinery, owned by state oil company Rosneft, processed approximately 13.1 million metric tons of crude oil in 2024, accounting for nearly 5% of Russia’s total refining throughput. Its annual output includes 2.2 million tons of gasoline, 3.4 million tons of diesel, 4.3 million tons of fuel oil, and 1 million tons of jet fuel. This incident is part of a broader pattern of Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russian energy infrastructure, aiming to disrupt the enemy’s economy and its capacity to fund military operations in Ukraine and globally. As is the custom, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported intercepting and destroying all drones targeting 13 regions, including Moscow, of which 20 drones specifically targeted the Ryazan region.

The Russian oil industry has been the core of Russia’s economy for almost a century, with the 1980’s-1990’s world oil price collapse considered one of the primary causes for the dissolution of the USSR.

moreesq on January 28th, 2025 at 01:42 UTC »

It seems plausible that if Ukraine significantly degrades the refineries and storage depots that they can reach, then Russia will have to expend more trains and trucks and pipeline time to keep fueling the war effort. Put briefly, they will have to ship from much longer distances. That logistical challenge and cost alone is worth the huge effort by Ukraine to destroy the nearby facilities.

UltraCarnivore on January 28th, 2025 at 01:36 UTC »

"Ukraine destroys 5% of Russia's total refinery capacity..."

Hey, that's not that m...

"...in only two nights"

Ooooooh. Oh.

ChrisTheHurricane on January 28th, 2025 at 00:09 UTC »

So what we need to do is give Ukraine 40 nights and they'll destroy all of it!

(I wish.)