Ukraine hits Russian oil terminal, jets and ships in wave of strikes

Ukraine carried out multiple strikes against Russian targets on Monday, damaging an oil terminal, pipeline, two fighter jets and two vessels, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukraine's General Staff said Monday that forces struck the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal, an ammunition storage facility and a drone launch site in Russian and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

In Russia's southern Krasnodar region, a pipeline, two docks and two ships sustained damage, sparking a major fire, the statement said. Ukrainian officials did not specify which weapons systems were deployed in the operation.

A Ukrainian-manufactured missile struck a temporary installation housing Russia's 92nd River Boat Brigade in Olenivka on the occupied Crimean peninsula, the General Staff added.

Another strike targeted an ammunition depot in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine's Donetsk region, intended to hinder Russian advances there, according to the statement. A Russian drone launch facility was also damaged.

In a separate attack, Ukrainian partisans also set two Russian fighter jets ablaze Sunday evening at an airfield near Lipetsk in western Russia, Ukraine's military intelligence reported.

Russia's Defence Ministry said only that its forces intercepted multiple Ukrainian drones overnight, including three over the Krasnodar region.

The operations are part of Ukraine's continuing strategy to disrupt Russian military capabilities and strike targets behind enemy lines, as Moscow continues its nearly four-year-long war.

The attacks also aim to challenge President Vladimir Putin's claims of Russian troops holding a strong military position during US-led peace negotiations, which have yet to achieve breakthroughs on major issues.

Moscow continues its campaign of attrition

Russia has continued its war of attrition, targeting settlements in the Donbas — a term used for the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk — which Moscow has partly occupied and which remains key to its maximalist demands to end the war.

In the Kostyantynivka direction in the Donetsk region, Russian forces launched 27 attacks in the past 24 hours around several settlements, Ukraine's General Staff reported on Monday.

The front-line city, which once had a pre-war population of 67,000, has been reduced to approximately 4,300 remaining residents, including children whose parents refuse to evacuate.

Russian aerial bombs have destroyed entire neighbourhoods, whilst constant drone surveillance forces pedestrians to shelter under trees and roofs, according to Ukrainian military reports.

Ukrainian defences have so far prevented Russian forces from advancing deeper into the city.

Moscow has also maintained its campaign against Ukraine's energy infrastructure, seeking to deprive civilians of heating and water supplies during winter.

Russia has targeted Ukrainian power systems since launching its full-scale invasion in early 2022, a tactic Kyiv describes as "weaponising winter".

Energy facilities across five Ukrainian regions came under attack overnight, Ukraine's Energy Ministry said.

Russia launched 86 drones of various types at Ukraine overnight, according to Ukraine's air force. Ukrainian defences destroyed 58 of them, officials said.