Ukraine launched a wave of drone attacks on Sunday targeting Russian oil facilities and naval assets across multiple locations, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian officials.
The operation focused on disrupting Russia's fuel supply and transport capabilities. Ukrainian forces struck the Primorsk port on the Baltic Sea, a major facility operated by Russia's state oil company Transneft that handles hundreds of thousands of barrels per day. The night-time drone attack ignited a fire at the port, confirmed by the Russian regional governor. Primorsk, located over 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine between the Russian-Finnish border and St Petersburg, had been targeted multiple times earlier in March.
As part of the broader operation, Ukraine also struck a Karakurt guided missile corvette, a patrol boat, and a tanker from Russia's shadow fleet, which operates outside international sanctions and price cap regulations. "One more Russian carrier of Kalibr missiles is out of action," Zelenskyy stated. Ukrainian forces additionally targeted two more shadow fleet tankers near Novorossiysk, a major Black Sea port.
The strikes continued Ukraine's campaign to limit Russia's ability to process and transport petroleum products supporting military operations. The shadow fleet tankers specifically help Russia circumvent Western economic restrictions on its oil trade.
Russia responded with intensive overnight strikes on Ukrainian territory. Russian forces attacked Ukraine with 269 drones and ballistic missiles, with Ukrainian air defenses countering or shooting down 249 of them, according to the Ukrainian air force. Ballistic missiles and 19 drones struck 15 locations across Ukrainian territory.
The Russian attacks caused casualties and damage in several regions. In the southern Odesa region, two people were killed and three wounded overnight into Sunday. The strikes damaged three residential buildings and hit port infrastructure, causing a fire that emergency teams extinguished. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian strikes wounded six people and damaged a passenger bus carrying 40 children, though no one inside was injured.
In Russia, a Ukrainian drone strike west of Moscow killed a 77-year-old man near the town of Volokolamsk, approximately 120 kilometers from central Moscow, according to the local governor. Six drones were shot down in the Moscow region, with at least five more intercepted approaching Moscow itself.
The escalating strikes on both sides reflect the intensifying campaign against Russia's energy infrastructure and logistics. Ukraine has made disrupting fuel supplies a strategic priority, while Russia continues large-scale drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian civilian and military targets. Ukraine also reported deaths in the Kherson region and the industrial city of Dnipro from Russian attacks during the same period.