The US has encouraged Ukraine to suspend drone strikes against Russian energy facilities, saying that such operations risk triggering retribution and pushing up global oil prices, according to the Financial Times, citing sources familiar with the situation.
The attacks boosted oil prices, which have climbed about 4% since March 12, when Ukraine began striking Russia’s energy infrastructure. A further rally in gasoline prices in the United States would weaken President Joe Biden ratings and undermine his re-election chances.
Drones have been employed by both Russia and Ukraine to strike important infrastructure, military installations, and troop concentrations throughout their more than two-year conflict, with Kyiv recently targeting Russian refineries and energy facilities.
In recent months, Kyiv has ramped up its strikes against Russian energy infrastructure, hitting several oil refineries across multiple regions, causing financial damage to the Kremlin, which still trades oil and gas despite sanctions.
Now Washington has urged officials in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) to put a stop to these attacks, the Financial Times reported Friday, citing three unnamed sources.
The U.S. is concerned that targeting Russia’s energy facilities will impact the Kremlin’s oil production capacity and drive up global prices — ahead of a knife-edge presidential election where prices at the gas pump are bound to be a contentious topic.
The sources also fear that these repeated strikes will provoke Russia into retaliating and targeting energy infrastructure the West relies on, including oil pipelines.
A spokesperson for the SBU declined to comment to POLITICO, while officials at GUR and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office did not respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment.
According to Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna, Ukrainian officials have said that oil refineries are “absolutely legitimate targets from a military point of view.”
“We understand the calls of our American partners,” she said at the Kyiv Security Forum, Ukrainska Pravda reported. “At the same time, we are fighting with the capabilities, resources and practices that we have.”
Moscow has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s energy facilities throughout 2023 and into the new year, including a massive barrage Friday which left several cities without electricity and damaged the Dnipro hydropower plant.