Strikes on the Baltic Terminals
Aerial drones have forced a major Russian oil terminal to stop working. Sea drones have damaged tankers tied to Moscow. Refineries across western Russia have burned after repeated strikes. As The New York Times reported in April, Ukraine is escalating this campaign precisely because the war in Iran has handed Russia a windfall of soaring oil prices and loosening American sanctions.
Ukraine says it carried out 10 attacks on oil assets in a single recent month, and experts believe the real figure is higher. The heaviest blows have landed on the Baltic ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, the two terminals that together load roughly 40 percent of Russia’s seaborne crude. Local authorities acknowledged damage at both, and an analysis of trading activity by Bloomberg found the count of tankers loading there has collapsed. Ust-Luga had been among the last big export gateways still running anywhere near capacity, which made it a prize target for drones launched from across the border.
Kyiv frames the campaign in blunt terms. Its military intelligence describes “coordinated precision strikes” meant to deny the Kremlin “billions of dollars that are directly converted into missiles and ammunition.”
The Windfall Problem
Energy analysts complicate that math. Russia taxes oil extraction rather than oil sales, so hitting ports and tankers bruises the companies that sell and ship the barrels while leaving state revenue close to intact. Worse for Kyiv’s logic, shrinking Russian exports could push world prices higher in a market already squeezed by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and Moscow’s extraction tax rises with the market price. Higher prices, higher revenue.
Sanctions Close Back In
The wider picture is less kind to Moscow. Data compiled by The Global Statistics show Russia’s fossil fuel export revenue sliding to about 604 million euros a day in August 2026, an 8% drop from the month before, with China and India together buying 87% of Russian crude exports.
Washington has moved to tighten the screw further. On September 17, 2026, Congress passed the Lindsey O Graham act, formally the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026, empowering the president to impose tariffs as high as 100% on the five biggest purchasers of Russian energy, a club that now effectively means Beijing and New Delhi.
The squeeze has been building since the European Union’s boycott of most seaborne Russian oil took effect in January 2023, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For the Kremlin, the war premium that once paid for missiles is meeting a sanctions wall that grows with every act Congress passes.
Sources
- Ukraine Ramps Up Attacks on Russian Oil, Aiming to Curb Iran War Windfall – The New York Times
- Countries Buying Russian Oil 2026 | Top Buyers, Imports, Revenue, Production & Facts – The Global Statistics
