There have been further escalations in the war between Ukraine and Russia, with the conflict now in its fifth year. At least 10 people were killed in separate attacks across Ukraine during a barrage of more than 260 Russian drone and ballistic missile strikes targeting five regions. Ukraine has retaliated by ramping up attacks on energy targets in Russia.
Heavy Civilian Toll in Overnight Assault
Vladimir Putin's army made little distinction between civilian homes and military targets in the deadly overnight assault. Multiple residential properties were hit in the strikes. Footage from Odessa, where two people died, showed firefighters battling flames in the aftermath of one attack on residential areas.
Elderly Woman's Daring Rescue
Vulnerable residents attempted to flee their homes. One 77-year-old Ukrainian grandmother, Antonina Horuzha, had been hiding in a basement for four months before attempting to flee with her family. However, she was too slow to keep up with the group and decided to turn back. That is when, alone on the road, Horuzha spotted a robot vehicle controlled by Ukrainian forces.
The unmanned vehicle had a spray-painted message on the side reading "grandma, sit down", according to a statement from the Ukrainian Army, which had reportedly spotted the lone woman. Army-released footage shows a driverless car approaching Horuzha, with a small spot to sit and a rug. She was transferred to soldiers and an armoured vehicle which took her to safety.
Contrasting Fates Amid Crossfire
But amid escalating crossfire between Ukraine and Russia, Horuzha's story is not a common one. A 77-year-old man in Russia was not so fortunate — he was killed in a drone strike on his village near Moscow, regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Saturday evening. A child was also among three people injured on Sunday after a drone attacked an apartment block in Moscow.
Ukrainian Drone Offensive on Russian Energy
The strikes come amid a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks in Russia, targeting energy infrastructure with strikes on oil ports and tankers. "Each such result further limits Russia's war potential," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. A strike on the port of Primorsk left the major Baltic Sea oil-exporting outlet in flames.
Ukraine also hit an oil tanker, a small Russian Karakurt-class missile ship, and a patrol boat in the Baltic Sea, Zelenskiy said. Ukrainian forces also struck two shadow-fleet tankers in waters at the entrance to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. "These tankers had been actively used to transport oil — not anymore," Zelenskiy said.
Global Oil Prices at Risk
A continuation of energy infrastructure strikes could result in further increases to global oil prices. The Kremlin's coffers have been boosted by the high oil prices brought on by the war in Iran, and profits in the sector help to sustain the Russian war effort in Ukraine, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) senior associate Ben Cahill said in late March. The Kremlin can now sell previously discounted Russian crude "at full market prices," marking "a pretty big turnaround" for the economy, he said at the time. "The biggest winner of the (Iran) conflict is Russia."
Primorsk, one of Russia's largest export gateways, has capacity to handle one million barrels per day of oil supply. But it has been hit multiple times in recent months as US-brokered talks to end the Ukraine war have stalled. "If additional volumes of our oil are dropped from the market, prices will rise further from current levels, which are already above $US120 ($A167) a barrel," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "That would mean that even with lower export volumes, our companies would earn more money and the state would receive more revenue."
— Reuters/ CNN
