EU warns Kyiv’s attacks on Russian ports could weaken Moscow’s war effort

Almost nightly over the past week, Ukrainian drones have struck key Russian oil and gas facilities and ports in Leningrad Oblast along the Gulf of Finland, opening a new front in Kyiv’s campaign against Moscow’s war funding, Breaking Defense reports.

The attacks targeted oil export terminals at Ust-Luga and Primorsk, as well as the Kirishi refinery, triggering fires and disrupting critical Baltic Sea energy infrastructure. Smoke plumes from the strikes were visible in neighboring countries and on satellite imagery.

“That’s painful for [the] Russian economy, because those ports … have a big part of Russian oil export. So, now Russia is facing problems which can diminish their possibilities to wage the war,” EU Defense and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius told Breaking Defense during a March 27 visit to Saab’s facility in Linköping, Sweden, on what he described as a “missile tour.”

Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson, who joined Kubilius during the interview, emphasized Ukraine’s right to self-defense. “Ukraine has the full sovereignty and the right to defend itself inside and outside its territory. It’s Russia who is the aggressor in this war,” Jonson said.

Sweden is closely monitoring the rising security challenges in the Gulf of Finland as the conflict in Ukraine extends north to Scandinavia’s eastern doorstep. While Jonson declined to label the Baltic Sea a “war zone,” he highlighted the evolving threats posed by Russia, including attacks on seabed infrastructure, GNSS disturbances and jamming, the shadow fleet, and a “more assertive behaviour by the Russian Baltic Fleet,” noting these developments are “changing security demands in the Baltic Sea.”

By Vafa Guliyeva