Drone barrage hits energy sites

Russia and Ukraine traded another heavy round of drone strikes in April, with Russian attacks hitting Ukrainian energy infrastructure and Ukrainian drones setting fires at Russian oil sites. (reuters.com) On April 18, Ukraine said it repelled a 219-drone Russian assault, destroying or jamming 190 drones, while 28 struck 17 locations and debris fell at nine more sites. The same night, Ukrainian drones hit the Novokuibyshevsk and Syzran refineries in Russia’s Samara region and a fuel site in occupied Crimea, according to Russian officials and a Ukrainian commander. (euronews.com) (reuters.com) Russian authorities also said fires at an oil depot in Tikhoretsk and an oil terminal in Tuapse, on the Black Sea, were caused by earlier Ukrainian drone strikes. Reuters reported that a fire at Vysotsk port in the Leningrad region, which handles fuel oil, naphtha, diesel and vacuum gas oil, was extinguished after another attack. (reuters.com) These exchanges now center on energy systems as much as troop positions. Russia has kept striking Ukraine’s power grid, and one April barrage left more than 300,000 households in Chernihiv region without electricity after distribution facilities were damaged, according to regional utility data cited by The Associated Press. (pbs.org) Ukraine has expanded its long-range drone campaign to hit refineries, depots and export terminals that feed Russia’s war budget. Reuters calculations published March 25 said about 40% of Russia’s crude oil export capacity, or roughly 2 million barrels a day, was shut after repeated attacks on western ports and related infrastructure. (nbcnews.com) The civilian toll has also climbed. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said at least 211 civilians were killed and 1,206 injured in March 2026, the highest monthly casualty total since July 2025, and said attacks on energy, railway and port infrastructure continued to disrupt daily life. (ohchr.org) Over the full four years since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, the United Nations says conflict-related violence has killed more than 15,000 civilians and injured more than 41,000. The same UN update said civilian casualties in 2025 were 31% higher than in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023. (un.org) Kyiv says the refinery and port strikes are meant to cut oil and gas revenue that funds Russia’s military. Moscow calls the attacks terrorism and has tightened security around energy and transport hubs across its territory. (nbcnews.com) The pattern is now familiar: Russia sends large drone waves at Ukrainian cities and utilities, and Ukraine answers by pushing deeper into Russia’s fuel network. Each side says it is degrading the other’s ability to keep fighting, and each new round leaves more damaged energy sites behind. (pbs.org) (reuters.com)