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Ukraine has worsened substance shortages crossed Russia successful the past week arsenic it has continued to deed Russia’s refineries and vigor infrastructure with long-range drones portion Poland has called for much lipid sanctions successful the aftermath of Russia’s archetypal drone attack connected NATO soil.
In the meantime, Russia’s creeping advance resulted successful the seizure of 3 villages implicit the past week, and possibly for the archetypal time, Ukraine’s bid reacted by dismissing the retreating officers.
Russian forces took the villages of Sosnovka and Novonikolayevka successful Dnipropetrovsk and Olhivske/Olgovskoye successful Zaporizhia.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii connected Monday fired the 2 officers successful complaint of the 17th and 20th service corps, which are based successful the 2 respective regions.
Since 2024, Ukraine has fought done slow, tactical retreats designed to cede constricted crushed for disproportionately precocious Russian casualties.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based deliberation tank, has estimated that successful May, June, July and August, Russia took 1,910sq km (737.5sq miles) of Ukrainian territory astatine a outgo of 130,000 casualties, averaging 68 casualties per quadrate kilometre.
Syrskyi’s dismissals could bespeak a tougher attack towards onshore losses going forward.
Russian forces were suffering “significant losses” successful Kupiansk and Dobropillia, 2 of the hottest points on the front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said connected Sunday.
Ukrainian defenders were advancing towards the Russian borderline successful Sumy successful bluish Ukraine, helium said.
A nonmigratory walks past an flat gathering damaged by a Russian subject onslaught successful Kramatorsk successful eastbound Ukraine’s Donetsk portion connected September 17, 2025 [Serhii Korovainyi/Reuters]Ukraine’s strategy – not purely defensive
Ukraine has launched a two-pronged strategy this twelvemonth to choke disconnected substance supplies to the Russian system and subject and to termination Russian revenues from vigor exports.
“The astir effectual sanctions – the ones that enactment the fastest – are the fires astatine Russia’s lipid refineries, its terminals, lipid depots,” Zelenskyy said successful an evening code to the Ukrainian radical connected Sunday.
“Russia’s warfare is fundamentally a relation of oil, of gas, of each its different vigor resources,” helium said.
That day, Ukraine crippled Russia’s 2nd largest refinery erstwhile its drones struck a processing portion accounting for 40 percent of the plant’s capacity.
Russian authorities said they changeable down 361 drones, suggesting determination were galore different targets arsenic well.
Industry sources told the Reuters quality bureau that the Kirishinefteorgsintez refinery, located successful the northwestern municipality of Kirishi, would boost accumulation astatine different units. Even so, the refinery could run lone astatine three-quarters of its capacity.
Last year, it produced 7.1 cardinal tonnes of diesel and 6.1 cardinal tonnes of substance lipid for ships.
Two days aft the Kirishi strike, Ukraine’s subject reported it besides struck the Saratov refinery, which supplies the Russian military.
There is mounting grounds that the archetypal prong of Ukraine’s strategy is working.
Russian authorities paper Izvestiya reported past week that substance shortages had dispersed to 10 Russian republics and regions, including the cardinal regions of Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov and Rostov arsenic good arsenic occupied Crimea.
Izvestiya’s study was based connected interviews with the Russian Independent Fuel Union, an relation of petrol presumption owners, which said galore petrol stations had not received deliveries for respective weeks and had been forced to unopen down.
Regional governors person besides precocious confirmed substance shortages.
Ukraine has struck astatine slightest 10 large Russian refineries this year, and the commandant of its Unmanned Systems Forces estimated Russia has mislaid one-fifth of its refining capacity.
“The Russian warfare instrumentality volition lone halt erstwhile it runs retired of fuel,” Zelenskyy told the yearly Yalta European Strategy Meeting successful Kyiv connected Friday. “And Putin volition statesman to halt it himself erstwhile helium himself genuinely feels that the resources for warfare are moving out.”
[Al Jazeera]Fewer exports
The 2nd prong of Ukraine’s strategy, choking disconnected Russia’s cashflow from lipid and substance exports, has besides been highly successful.
On Friday, Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s largest lipid offloading terminal astatine Primorsk connected the Baltic Sea, according to sources astatine Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU).
The onslaught caused a occurrence astatine the pumping presumption and a vessel moored adjacent to it, forcing the terminal to suspend shipments, Ukrainian outlet Suspilne reported.
Ukraine besides struck pumping stations on the Transneft Baltic Pipeline System-2, which supplies crude lipid to offloading terminals successful the larboard of Ust-Luga, besides successful the Leningrad region.
“Oil and state revenues person accounted for betwixt a 3rd and fractional of Russia’s full national fund proceeds implicit the past decade, making the assemblage the azygous astir important root of financing for the government,” Reuters said.
Russia has banned each exports of refined petroleum products since February and sought to summation exports of crude lipid instead.
But adjacent that extremity whitethorn not beryllium possible.
Russia’s biggest pipeline operator, Transneft, has reportedly told upstream lipid producers they whitethorn person to chopped their output due to the fact that Ukrainian strikes person degraded its quality to store and transportation lipid to refineries and export terminals, according to 3 manufacture sources who spoke to Reuters.
Transneft dismissed the study arsenic “fake news”.
(Al Jazeera)
(Al Jazeera)EU seeks to extremity each imports
Poland called for a implicit prohibition of Russian lipid imports to the European Union aft 19 Russian drones entered its airspace connected September 10.
Most of the EU has banned Russian lipid imports, but Hungary and Slovakia person an exemption until the extremity of 2027 due to the fact that they said it’s cheaper for them to import lipid via pipeline from Russia than to person it done different EU countries.
That whitethorn change, the European Commission main said connected Tuesday. “The Commission volition soon contiguous its 19th bundle of sanctions, targeting crypto, banks, and energy,” President Ursula von der Leyen wrote connected societal media. “The Commission volition suggest speeding up the phase-out of Russian fossil imports.”
Ongoing income of Russian vigor to Europe person been a taxable of concern.
Official EU imports of Russian lipid person dropped by an estimated 90 percent since Russia’s penetration of Ukraine, according to estimates from the EU’s statistical service.
However, the EU ne'er really banned Russian gas, and the London-based deliberation vessel Ember has estimated it paid Russia $23.6bn for state past twelvemonth – astir $5bn much than it paid successful subject assistance to Ukraine.
“I impulse each partners to halt looking for excuses not to enforce peculiar sanctions,” Zelenskyy said connected Saturday. “If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not privation peace, helium indispensable beryllium forced into it.”
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