kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s long-range attacks on refineries inside Russia have reduced Moscow’s oil refining capacity by 20%, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, citing intelligence from Western governments.
According to Zelenskyy, more than 90% of these deep attacks on Russian soil were carried out with Ukrainian-made long-range weapons. He said Ukraine needs additional foreign financial help to produce more.
“We just have to work on this every day,” he said Monday in comments to the media that were embargoed until Tuesday.
Oil exports play a key role in financing Russia’s invasion of its neighbor Ukraine. While Ukrainian weapons are aimed at refineries, new sanctions from the United States and the European Union aim to reduce Moscow’s oil and gas export revenues.
Despite renewed peace efforts led by the United States, the war shows no signs of ending after nearly four years. With the Kremlin showing no willingness to compromise, US President Donald Trump raised the stakes by announcing sanctions against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil last week.
Those sanctions will go into effect on November 21, and Zelenskyy says Trump “will probably use this as a tool of pressure or dialogue with the Russians.”
China and India are the largest customers of Russian oil. Zelenskyy said India “has definitely given every signal that it will reduce imports of energy resources” from Russia.
He said he is hopeful that Trump’s planned meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in South Korea on Thursday will bring further reductions in Russian crude purchases.
In other comments to reporters, Zelenskyy said:
— Ukraine has 70% of the $2 billion it needs to finance gas imports for the winter heating season, as Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
— Next month, Ukraine will produce 500 to 800 interceptors a day to stop Russian Shahed drone attacks, but operators also need training to use them.
— Ukraine has captured 2,200 Russian prisoners of war in more than six months of fighting this year in the eastern region, where Russia’s largest army is trying to capture the city of Pokrovsk. where Ukraine is shoring up its defenses with more troops.
— kyiv officials are holding parallel talks with Sweden, France and the United States to develop Ukraine’s future combat aviation potential. Zelenskyy says he has ordered a fleet of 250 new planes in total.
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