In terms of Ukraine’s strikes on Russian territory, January 2025 was the month that the gloves finally came off. With Ukraine’s homegrown defense sector now rivaling any western nation and seemingly no US, German or French politician willing to risk uttering the long-standard and nonsensical call for “de-escalation”, Russia’s most important cash-generating assets are now vanishing at an almost daily rate.
A summary of Ukraine’s January strikes on Russian territory paint the picture of efforts primarily focused on Russia’s vast, nationwide petroleum industry, the very heart of the economy and it’s war machine.
▪️ On January 4, drones covered a distance of over 900 kilometers, successfully striking Russia’s largest seaport, Ust-Luga, in the Leningrad region.
▪️ On January 8, drones traveled approximately 1,000 kilometers to hit an oil depot in Engels, a key fuel supplier for a military airfield.
▪️ On January 10, several areas of Russia’s Rostov region fell victim to a combination of missiles and drones targeting a plant for the production of propellant for ballistic missiles as well as weapons warehouses and a military training base.
▪️ On January 11, multiple locations, including Russian-occupied Crimea and several Russian cities, came under attack. A fire erupted in the port area of Novorossiysk, located 500 kilometers from the border.
▪️ On January 14, drones struck an oil depot in Engels, the Orgsintez plant in Kazan, the Saratov Oil Refinery, and the Bryansk Chemical Plant.
▪️ On January 15, an oil depot in the Voronezh region, about 200 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, caught fire.
▪️ On January 16, drones traveled more than 400 kilometers to reach the Tambov Gunpowder Plant.
▪️ On January 17, another drone strike targeted the Engels oil depot, where Russian authorities had just extinguished a six-day fire. This marked the third attack in two weeks.
▪️ On January 18, drones hit oil depots in Russia’s Tula and Kaluga regions.
▪️ On January 20, drones targeted aircraft manufacturing facilities in Kazan, 1,000 kilometers from the border, while also revisiting a familiar oil depot in the Voronezh region.
▪️ On January 21, drone strikes reached military-industrial sites in Smolensk, located 300 kilometers from the border.
▪️ On January 24, drones conducted successful strikes in Ryazan and Bryansk—over 500 and 110 kilometers from the border, respectively. In Ryazan, an oil refinery was illuminated by explosions, while in Bryansk, the Kremniy El plant was also hit.
▪️ On January 26, UAVs once again struck the Ryazan Oil Refinery, more than 500 kilometers from the border.
▪️ On January 29, drones successfully hit one of Russia’s largest oil refineries, located in Kstovo in the Nizhny Novgorod region, approximately 800 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The Russian military blogosphere is now rife with panicked comments, citing the embarrassingly incompetent lack of air defenses, lamenting the almost nightly losses of key oil refineries, such as the Ryazan Refinery that was completely taken out of commission in only two nights of strikes earlier this week, the third largest refinery in the country. Last night the fourth largest refinery, in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod was also targeted. These two refineries alone represent over 11% of Russia’s total refining capacity, producing the diesel, jet fuel, gasoline and variety of petroleum derivatives that make an economy go.
In whats becoming an integral part of the morning coffee experience for millions of Ukrainians, the videos of exploding multi-million dollar Russian oil storage, transport and refinery capacity that fill the news feeds are giving hope, while the Ukrainian government assures that things are only getting started.