For more than two years, Ukraine has been relentlessly dismantling the foundations of Russia's oil industry, striking refineries, fuel depots and transport infrastructure. While the campaign initially focused on depriving the Russian military of fuel, it later broadened to target the Russian economy as a whole by seeking to trigger a systemic crisis.
In recent weeks, the nature of these operations has also evolved, as drones are now increasingly targeting Russia's maritime logistics. Tankers, cargo ships, tugboats and ferries operating in the Azov and Black Seas have all come under attack.
The campaign's key objective is to make it increasingly risky for Russia to use the maritime routes that supply occupied Crimea, transport military cargo and carry crude oil and petroleum products to foreign markets.
As repeated strikes on the Kerch Bridge and disruptions to overland supply routes have constrained Russia's land-based logistics, these maritime connections have become one of the Kremlin's most important lifelines for sustaining its forces in Crimea.
Small river-sea class tankers use these routes to deliver petroleum products to the peninsula and to transport fuel for transfer to larger ocean-going tankers. Read on to find out what makes this operation unique, what it has achieved so far and the strategic objective behind it.
Surgical precision
The latest phase of Ukraine's campaign against Russia's energy and logistics infrastructure has taken the form of Operation MoLoChKa [Ukr. "Москва Ляже Через Крим", literally "Moscow Will Fall Through Crimea" – ed.]. It stands out even against the backdrop of Ukraine's previous successful campaigns. Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces reported that their drones had struck 196 vessels supporting Russia's maritime logistics during the first 18 days of July. Of those, 126 were hit in the Sea of Azov and 70 in the Black Sea.