“Today, I signed a decree establishing a special command within the armed forces – a command aimed at a long-range and, in effect, global impact on Russia in response to this war.” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this in his Friday night address, July 10. He added that the new body “must focus 100% of available resources on further reducing Russia’s capacity to wage war.”
The announcement came on a day of fresh strikes. Ukraine’s general staff said drones hit the Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, one of the largest in Russia’s south, and the Ust-Luga oil refining complex in the Leningrad region. An oil terminal and an oil depot in the Rostov region were also hit, according to the same statement.
Tankers in the Azov
The campaign has also turned to the water. Robert Brovdi, who commands Ukraine’s drone forces and is described as one of the masterminds of the long-range effort, said 10 tankers in the Sea of Azov had been attacked, part of almost 50 fuel vessels damaged in the previous five days. He said the strikes were also damaging Moscow’s “shadow fleet.”
Russia reacted. Three grain export industry sources told Reuters on Friday that Russia had temporarily stopped shipping through the Don-Azov Channel, which links the Don River with the Sea of Azov. Up to one-quarter of Russia’s wheat exports are estimated to pass through that inland sea. Border guards also reportedly told shipping companies that no requests for passage through the Kerch Strait would be accepted from 6:10pm local time on Friday. The notice gave no date for lifting the halt.
Fuel shortages at home
For months, Ukrainian attack drones have been going after energy infrastructure thousands of kilometres inside Russia. Kyiv calls this a form of long-range sanctions on the main contributor to Russia’s state budget. Moscow has banned diesel exports and restricted shipping near the Sea of Azov in response.
Weeks earlier, in a late-June evening address, Zelenskyy had told the country he had instructed intelligence services and the military “to act preemptively against facilities Russia uses to expand its war effort.” By then the Moscow oil refinery, the largest fuel supplier to the capital, was expected to be offline for at least six months after two drone hits in June, two industry sources told Reuters. Fuel shortages, price increases and long queues at filling stations had spread across the country. Deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said Russia was considering a diesel export ban, and Vedomosti reported that fuel imports were being weighed, especially for Crimea, where gasoline sales to the public had been suspended.
Sanctions talks in Kyiv
US Senator Lindsey Graham, at the end of his 10th visit to Kyiv, said on Friday that China could play a decisive role in pushing Russia toward peace talks. “The road to ending this war, the road to peace, passes through Beijing more than it does Washington, Kyiv, or Moscow,” he told reporters. Graham, with Senators Richard Blumenthal, Jeanne Shaheen and Roger Wicker, also said they had reached agreement with the Trump administration to advance updated Russia sanctions legislation. It would penalise countries doing business with Russia, including buyers of its energy exports.
Russian missile strikes on Kyiv wounded six people on Saturday, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration.
Sources
- Zelenskyy orders preemptive strikes on Russian war facilities as drone campaign intensifies
- Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy creates ‘long-range impact’ command to strike Russian energy sector
