The third largest refinery in Russia is offline after only two nights of Ukrainian drone strikes, an amount representing 5% of the country’s overaall capacity. 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.

Popular Russian Telegram channels complain that Ukrainian drones are destroying assets that are vital for the russian economy, “Now, the rising frequency and scale of these strikes are impossible to overlook. The consequences are evident every night.” Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian territory has now surpassed Russian air defenses’ ability to defend it, according to Russia’s military bloggers.

Newly commissioned oil wells in russia again drops, another -12.3%. More pain for Russia’s beleaguered oil industry today as new drilling statistics paint yet another bleak picture, with new drilling facing another big drop. The drop ion newly commissioned wells again accelerated. now down 12.3% year-on-year from January-November 2024, according to a report by Kommersant on Thursday.

A wave of coordinated attacks rocked Moscow and St Petersburg over the past 3 days, with pensioners and elderly being the primary perpetrators. A string of arson attacks and explosions swept across multiple Russian cities on Saturday, raising questions about the scale and coordination of these acts. The perpetrators, many of whom confessed to being manipulated by telephone scammers, targeted a variety of public institutions and infrastructure.

Mass layoffs have come to Russia’s Kuzbass region due to the closure of three mines. A little over three weeks ago, we flashed the warning light on the Russian coal industry, outlining that the drop in production combined with the inability to export and an increasingly catastrophic countrywide credit situation would lead to mass layoffs. And now it’s happening. The unraveling of Russia’s coal industry is accelerating, with three more major open-pit coal mines in the Kuzbass region —

 It seems even Moscow is no longer safe for Putin’s war criminals. Less than a week after one of Russia’s lead missile designers is killed in Moscow, Senior General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, has also been assassinated, the highest level Russian official to yet be killed since the beginning of the war.