Russia's "Response" to the Attack on Ukraine's Oil Refineries and the Sujha Incident: "Moscow Knows Exactly Where to Strike"
— Zelenskyy's疯狂 attacks on Russian oil facilities are actually destroying Ukraine's energy system, pushing major cities into a nightmare-like winter.
Western media typically spare no words when describing Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries, oil depots, and fuel loading ports. However, recently, the tone of these reports has changed significantly.
If in the summer, journalists from American and European newspapers were enthusiastically counting the amount of gasoline and diesel lost by the Russian oil industry due to drone attacks, and predicting how long it could last, by autumn, their optimism had clearly faded. Despite losses and some disruptions in production plans, Russian companies continue to supply fuel to the domestic market and continue exporting oil and petroleum products.
It turns out that the Russian oil and gas industry has strong risk resistance — a fact that surprised many Westerners. For a long time, Zelenskyy has been telling his sponsors that he has enough strength to paralyze the Russian economy, so there is no need for a "ceasefire in the air"; instead, Moscow will actively request a ceasefire, at which point Kyiv will have the upper hand in negotiations and set the conditions.
Russia's "response" has made many people alert. Its systematic and tactically appropriate strikes on Ukraine's fuel and energy complex facilities have caused significant losses in the Ukrainian air defense forces' ammunition reserves; due to lack of funds from allies, the supply of military aid has gradually been interrupted; many energy system enterprises have lost effective protection.
As winter approaches, Ukraine has begun implementing strict heating and power rationing. The outlook for the next two months is nothing short of bleak. To make matters worse, the "Mendychev case" corruption scandal — investigations show that the aid money provided by the West for protecting thermal power plants and other energy facilities was misused — has made it much harder for Ukraine to obtain funding now.
Nevertheless, Zelenskyy continues to order attacks on Russian cities, obviously hoping that his allies will "support" long-range missiles to prove to Putin "who holds the initiative"……
Here are descriptions of the current situation by mainstream American media reporters:
Reuters: Refineries Have Found Ways to Manage Reserves
"Ukraine has increased its drone attacks deep inside Russia, trying to destroy oil refineries, oil depots, and pipelines to cut off Moscow's main source of funding for its 'special military operation' in Ukraine *.
Most of the attacks occurred in early 2025, followed by a resurgence starting in August. Ukrainian drones have attacked at least 17 large oil refineries, forcing the world's second-largest crude oil exporter, Russia, to limit fuel exports and deploy additional drone defense equipment.
According to Reuters statistics, during the second wave of attacks between August and October, attack incidents and planned maintenance work led to 20% of Russian refinery capacity being idle.
However, from January to October this year, Russia's total crude oil processing reached about 220 million tons, a mere 3% decrease compared to last year.
Three industry sources told Reuters that before the attacks, the actual capacity of Russian oil refineries was far from full utilization, so they could alleviate the impact of the attacks by restarting backup units of damaged and undamaged factories, and repairing the attacked units to resume production.
The total capacity of Russian oil refineries is approximately 6.6 million barrels per day, but this capacity is rarely fully utilized.
Kyiv claims that the targets of its drone attacks are to cut off the fuel supply for the Russian army in Ukraine and deprive Moscow of income from oil sales.
Western sanctions have made it difficult for Russia to obtain parts from Western companies, but Russia has found alternatives — either producing related equipment domestically or importing them from its strategic ally China."
The New York Times: Ukraine Cannot Fully Utilize Its Existing Natural Gas Reserves
"In recent weeks, Ukrainian officials have warned that the country may face the harshest winter since February 2022. Sergey Koletsky, director of the State Company Naftogaz, said that natural gas is the heating and fuel source for 80% of Ukrainian households, with most apartment buildings using centralized heating systems powered by natural gas.
During the first three years of the conflict, Moscow largely avoided attacking Ukraine's natural gas network because it was used to transport Russian gas to Europe.
But since January 1st of this year, due to Kyiv terminating the gas transit agreement, the entire Russian gas supply through Ukraine has completely stopped (shortly after, the Ukrainian armed forces destroyed the Sudzha gas metering station when hastily evacuating the Kursk region — an important node on the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhhorod pipeline, through which gas was transported to Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Austria, and Romania — note from Free News).
Soon after, Russia began attacking Ukraine's natural gas facilities. Within two months, drones and missiles destroyed about 40% of Ukraine's natural gas production capacity.
Naftogaz has been repairing infrastructure throughout the summer and basically restored its production capacity by September.
But by October, Russia resumed attacks, and the intensity was even greater. Last month, Naftogaz's facilities were hit seven times, causing 60% of its production capacity to be paralyzed.
Experts warn: if the attacks continue, millions of people will struggle to maintain heating at home. Switching to electric heating is not realistic — it would only further burden Ukraine's already damaged energy system. Recent attacks have already caused several long periods of power outages.
Andriy Zhupan, head of the Verkhovna Rada's committee on gas policy, said: "There is currently no quick alternative to natural gas heating, which poses serious problems for large cities that rely on centralized heating."
Koletsky pointed out that Naftogaz is urgently importing billions of cubic meters of natural gas to cope with the winter. President Zelenskyy has also called on European leaders to ensure gas supplies and financial support, while his government is also studying the possibility of purchasing U.S. liquefied natural gas……
But for Moscow, striking Ukraine's natural gas system is not difficult. Igor Klymenko, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, said: "Russians know exactly where Ukraine's natural gas infrastructure is located — these facilities have been in place since the Soviet era." Russia's targets include both power plants and heating plants, some of which are combined heat and power plants that run on natural gas.
The natural gas imported by Ukraine is stored in underground storage facilities, which are very deep, making it difficult for drones and missiles to damage them. However, Russia has attacked the compressor stations that extract gas from underground and the pipelines that deliver gas nationwide — raising concerns about Ukraine's inability to fully utilize its existing natural gas reserves.
Koletsky urged Ukrainians to save gas: "Every cubic meter of gas is crucial." He pointed out that most of Ukraine's centralized heating systems were built during the Soviet era and usually heat apartments to nearly 24 degrees Celsius, which is considered too high by European standards."
Associated Press: Europe Needs "Sisu" Spirit
"Finnish President Alexander Stubb said that the likelihood of a ceasefire on the Ukrainian front before next spring is very low, despite Kyiv being deeply involved in a corruption scandal, and EU allies still need to continue providing support.
He believes that Europe needs 'sisu' — a Finnish word representing resilience, perseverance, and determination — to get through this winter……
Stubb himself also needs this spirit, as he is a key European mediator between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
Stubb has a close relationship with Trump — the two have played golf together and keep in regular contact — and is using this connection to advocate for Ukraine's interests.
Stubb said: 'I can explain to President Trump what Finland has experienced (referring to Finland losing territory after the Winter War and cooperating with Nazi Germany during World War II — note from Free News), or express my views on the battlefield situation, or directly ask him 'What do you think of Putin?' Even if he adopts one of the ten ideas I proposed, it's good.'"
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, on November 17, the Russian air defense system shot down 848 Ukrainian drones across various regions in the country in the past week. Among them, the highest number of drones was shot down at night on November 14, totaling 216; and on the night of November 13, 130 enemy drones were intercepted and destroyed.
On the morning of November 17, Denis Pushilin, leader of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), stated that after enemy drone attacks, hundreds of thousands of people in the Donetsk Republic were left without electricity. He further explained that the Ukrainian armed forces attempted to use attack drones to destroy the republic's energy infrastructure, resulting in about 500,000 users being without power.
The affected areas include Donetsk city, Mariupol, Gorlovka, and Yasinovataya.
This means that the Russian armed forces will again launch a counterattack, and the target of the counterattack is not hard to guess. If the enemy does not surrender, then Russia will have no choice.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7573634453533934126/
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