Ukraine drones strike the Tikhoretsk oil pumping station in southern Russia. A Russian drone attack kills a 15-year-old girl in Chernihiv region, injures her parents. Russia can benefit from the U.S., allies burning through Patriot missiles in war with Iran, Politico says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drones of the Alfa Special Operations Center of Ukraine\u2019s Security Service struck the Tikhoretsk oil pumping station in Russia\u2019s Krasnodar region, an unnamed source from the agency told news site The New Voice of Ukraine on Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The station is one of the largest oil hubs in southern Russia and is operated by Transneft. It has a large oil depot and terminal that play a vital role in the logistics of fuel and oil, the source said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result of the attack, a large fire broke out at the hub. Russia\u2019s local authorities confirmed the strike and said 26 pieces of equipment were deployed to extinguish the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn early March, the Security Service of Ukraine together with [other branches of] the defense forces carried out a successful strike on oil infrastructure in the port of Novorossiysk. Today\u2019s strike on the Tikhoretsk oil hub that serves as the only supply route for petroleum products to the port of Novorossiysk came as a felt blow to the enemy\u2019s oil logistics,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such systematic operations disrupt the supplies, complicate oil transportation to the ports and make the enemy change supply routes. Altogether, it weakens Russia\u2019s military potential and its economic capacity to wage the war, the source continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Local residents, cited by Russian Telegram channels described hearing multiple explosions in the city at night and said a large fire broke out at the oil depot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An overnight Russian drone attack on the community of Mena in Chernihiv region on Thursday killed a 15-year-old girl and injured her parents, local authorities said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack set fire to a private home and outbuilding, Ukraine\u2019s State Emergency Service said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe firefighters quickly extinguished the fire. Unfortunately, a girl born in 2010 was killed. Her parents sustained injuries and were taken to hospital. Psychologists of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Chernihiv region offered assistance to six people,\u201d the agency said in a statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia launched at Ukraine a total of 94 attack drones of the Shahed, Gerbera and Italmas types as well as other unidentified types of drones overnight on Monday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. The drones were fired from the area of Russia\u2019s Kursk, Oryol, Millerovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk and from Hvardiyske in occupied Crimea. More than 60 of the unmanned aerial systems were the Shaheds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Air Force and other branches of the Ukrainian military deployed aircraft, surface-to-air missile troops, electronic warfare units and mobile groups to repel the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s military said it had shot down or otherwise neutralized 77 drones of the Shahed, Gerbera, Italmas and other types in the north, south and east of the country. Sixteen drones hit target in 11 locations and the falling debris fell in one place, it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The war with Iran is sucking up expensive U.S. air defense munitions that Ukraine desperately needs, putting future deliveries at risk and threatening Kyiv\u2019s ability to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks, Politico said Wednesday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. and Gulf allies have burned through hundreds of Patriot missiles shooting down Iranian ballistic missiles and attack drones, eating up stockpiles that might have gone to Ukraine. The dynamic has put the Trump administration\u2019s expanding war against the Iranian regime in direct conflict with Kyiv\u2019s reliance on contracts for U.S.-made air defenses, according to interviews with 10 top European officials and two U.S. lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those allies fear that Russia will seize the initiative by attempting to lay waste to more of Ukraine\u2019s civilian infrastructure and try to move the front lines while the U.S. and Europe are distracted with a separate war \u2014 and stockpile concerns \u2014 of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf [Vladimir] Putin was feeling any pressure to negotiate before, and it\u2019s not clear he was, it\u2019s gone for now,\u201d said a EU official. \u201cThe U.S. is distracted and burning through some of the weapons Europe wants to purchase for Ukraine. \u2026 It\u2019s a very gloomy scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt goes without saying that Ukraine will be affected as the U.S. will prioritize national needs\u201d in the coming months, an official from a NATO country said. The official, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive national defense issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One German official said that \u201csluggish\u201d deliveries of weapons to Ukraine in November and December have significantly contributed to the destruction of Ukraine\u2019s energy infrastructure. And that could just be the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe worry is that [Donald] Trump will break agreements, withhold supplies, and that Putin will ruthlessly exploit this,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allies also are increasingly concerned about skyrocketing prices for sought-after American weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome prices of weapon systems are clearly doubled,\u201d said a second official from a NATO country. \u201cThat\u2019s the ballpark and degree of price issues we are having.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond the near-term scramble for air defenses, Europeans are worried that the broader Ukrainian arms pipeline could be in jeopardy as U.S. forces \u2014 and their allies \u2014 expand their arsenals amid escalating conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other news, Ukraine received PAC-3 missiles for the Patriot air defense systems from Germany, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said Wednesday. Several countries agreed to supply the missiles to Ukraine at the latest Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Middle East countries spent more than 800 missiles for the Patriot air defense systems in the first days of war against Iran, while Ukraine has only received 600 of them since the invasion, news site The New Voice of Ukraine said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EU Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius told RFE\/RL last week that the EU is looking for ways to secure the supply of missiles for the Patriot systems to Ukraine against a backdrop of the war in the Middle East. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"