Putin allies “absolve themselves of responsibility” for drone defense—ISW

Russian officials and military bloggers are voicing concern about Ukraine’s repeated drone strikes on energy infrastructure, blaming authorities for poor security around critical infrastructure on Russian soil, a think tank has said.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank, in its latest analysis of the conflict in Ukraine on Sunday commented on a Ukrainian drone strike on an oil depot in Russia’s southern Rostov region. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was responsible for the July 13 attack, the Kyiv Independent reported.

“Last night turned out to be very hot for the Russian oil depot in the Tsimlyansky district of Rostov,” an intelligence agency source said. “According to our information, it was SBU drones that (caused the explosion) at the facility where various brands of gasoline and diesel fuel with a total volume of 12,500 cubic meters were stored.”

The source added: “SBU drones continue to implement ‘economic sanctions’ against Russia’s energy complex, which is providing for the war in Ukraine.”

Kyiv began its drone campaign targeting Russian refineries in early January, nearly two years into the war, obstructing gasoline production in Russia and cutting Moscow’s export revenues, which are at the heart of the country’s war economy.

The ISW said that in the aftermath of that attack, Russian officials and milbloggers reiterated complaints about poor security around critical infrastructure in rear areas of Russia.

“Russian sources circulated footage on July 13 and 14 of two security guards armed with anti-drone guns seemingly watching a Ukrainian drone strike the oil depot without attempting to shoot down the drone and criticized the security guards for not defending the depot,” the think tank said.

The ISW said Russian sources alleged that “Russian authorities have attempted to absolve themselves of responsibility for Ukrainian drone strikes by ordering Russian facilities to hire their own security.”

These sources also questioned why the Kremlin has failed to organize mobile fire groups similar to Ukraine’s mobile fire groups that defend against Russian Shahed-136/131kamikaze drone attacks, the think tank said.

“Russian milbloggers have routinely complained about the Russian government’s inability to address and repel Ukrainian strikes against Russian infrastructure,” the ISW added.

Newsweek has contacted Russia’s Defense Ministry for comment by email.

By late June, Ukraine’s forces had carried out at least 30 attacks on Russian oil refineries since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

It’s not the first time Russian pro-war military bloggers have voiced concern about the country’s ability to protect its prized assets.

Last month, Boris Rozhin, a Crimea-based Russian war blogger, urged Putin to address his country’s air defenses after a reported Ukrainian strike on the Belgorod region destroyed parts of a Russian S-300/400 air defense system.

A revision of the “architecture” of Russia’s air defense systems is “urgently needed,” he wrote on Telegram.

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