“Once entirely dependent on imports of weapons from abroad, the Ukrainians are now producing millions of drones, large and small, as well as other kinds of weapons every year,” Anne Applebaum reports. She visited a company that is currently at the cutting edge of Ukraine’s most ambitious strategy: the campaign to damage Russian refineries, pipeline stations, and other economic assets, especially oil-related assets. theatln.tc/36F9pPbe
Fire Point specializes in weaponry for long-range attacks, producing large drones that can travel up to 1,400 kilometers and stay in the air for seven hours. “Trump has still never applied any real pressure on Russia, and is slowly lifting the Biden administration’s sanctions by refusing to update them,” Applebaum continues. “By targeting Russia’s oil and gas industry, the Ukrainians have been applying ‘sanctions’ on their own.”
Oil and oil products provide the majority of Russia’s state income. This is how the oil industry became the Ukrainians’ most important target. “Russia can sustain extremely high levels of casualties and losses in human lives. They don’t care about people’s lives,” a Ukrainian officer told Applebaum. But, he said, “it is painful for them to lose money.”
Europeans have been quietly backing Ukraine’s strategy, Applebaum reports. One fund, from the European Union, includes billions of dollars being invested into a “Drone Alliance” that is “mostly designed to build anti-drone defenses along Europe’s eastern border, but that money will also accelerate production and benefit Ukraine as well,” Applebaum writes.
Both Ukrainians and European allies are also looking at the so-called shadow fleet, the oil tankers now traveling around the world under flags of convenience, fraudulent flags, or no flags at all, carrying illicit Russian oil. They plan on adding them to lists of sanctioned ships, and even banning them from the Baltic. “But that will take time, which no one in Ukraine wants to waste,” Applebaum writes. “Drones, which can defend the front line and take the battle deep into Russia, can do more.”
The Atlantic
“Once entirely dependent on imports of weapons from abroad, the Ukrainians are now producing millions of drones, large and small, as well as other kinds of weapons every year,” Anne Applebaum reports. She visited a company that is currently at the cutting edge of Ukraine’s most ambitious strategy: the campaign to damage Russian refineries, pipeline stations, and other economic assets, especially oil-related assets. theatln.tc/36F9pPbe
Fire Point specializes in weaponry for long-range attacks, producing large drones that can travel up to 1,400 kilometers and stay in the air for seven hours. “Trump has still never applied any real pressure on Russia, and is slowly lifting the Biden administration’s sanctions by refusing to update them,” Applebaum continues. “By targeting Russia’s oil and gas industry, the Ukrainians have been applying ‘sanctions’ on their own.”
Oil and oil products provide the majority of Russia’s state income. This is how the oil industry became the Ukrainians’ most important target. “Russia can sustain extremely high levels of casualties and losses in human lives. They don’t care about people’s lives,” a Ukrainian officer told Applebaum. But, he said, “it is painful for them to lose money.”
Europeans have been quietly backing Ukraine’s strategy, Applebaum reports. One fund, from the European Union, includes billions of dollars being invested into a “Drone Alliance” that is “mostly designed to build anti-drone defenses along Europe’s eastern border, but that money will also accelerate production and benefit Ukraine as well,” Applebaum writes.
Both Ukrainians and European allies are also looking at the so-called shadow fleet, the oil tankers now traveling around the world under flags of convenience, fraudulent flags, or no flags at all, carrying illicit Russian oil. They plan on adding them to lists of sanctioned ships, and even banning them from the Baltic. “But that will take time, which no one in Ukraine wants to waste,” Applebaum writes. “Drones, which can defend the front line and take the battle deep into Russia, can do more.”
🎨: Ximena Borrazás / Getty
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