Ukraine has the technical capability to organize a naval blockade of Russia in the Baltic and Black Seas using UAVs. This was stated by co-founder and chief designer of Fire Point, Denis Shtilerman, reports UNN.
"At the same time, we have the technical capability, for example, to block Russian oil exports in the Baltic and Black Seas," Shtilerman said in an interview with the Eastern European bureau of Report.
According to him, such a naval blockade could lead to a sharp rise in oil and fuel prices in Europe, so European partners do not support this idea.
"We can organize a naval blockade of Russia using drones. But our partners (in the European Union - ed.) do not want to create additional problems for their voters," Shtilerman noted.
According to him, Ukraine currently does not have sufficient financial resources to independently and fully fund its army. Therefore, Kyiv is largely dependent on aid from allies and European funding.
Shtilerman added that Russia expected Ukraine to remain weak and be quickly captured. However, Ukraine has become a state that influences the future security architecture of Europe.
Recall
Ukrainian UAVs on July 6 struck an oil refinery in Omsk. A hit was recorded on the enterprise's territory, followed by a fire.
Denis Shtilerman said that during the attack on the Omsk Refinery, a new modification of the Ukrainian long-range drone FP-1 was used. This refinery became the most distant target deep within Russia that was struck by drones launched from Ukraine.
Fire Point CEO Irina Terekh called the strike on the Omsk Refinery historic. According to her, until that day, it remained one of only two enterprises among the top ten largest oil refineries in Russia that had never been damaged by Ukrainian drones. The second such enterprise remains the Angarsk Petrochemical Company in the Irkutsk region.
"Hopes were placed on it to balance the fuel crisis after the successful campaign of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. To grasp the scale, its capacity is almost double that of the Moscow Refinery," Terekh noted.
She also drew attention to the fact that the Omsk Refinery is the only enterprise in Russia producing cracking catalysts, a key component on which secondary oil refining at other Russian refineries depends.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this is the last of the 11 largest gasoline producers in Russia to be struck by Ukrainian soldiers. It is the most powerful oil refining enterprise in Russia (over 21 million tons per year) and specializes in producing a wide range of fuel, oils, and petrochemical products. The plant has one of the highest oil refining depth indicators in Russia (about 99%). The refinery produces high-octane motor gasolines (AI-92, AI-95, G-Drive 100), diesel fuel of the "Euro-5" class, aviation kerosene (grades TS-1 and RT). It is also a producer of benzene, paraxylene, and orthoxylene, specialized products and oils, raw materials for carbon black, motor and industrial oils.
The General Staff emphasizes that the Omsk Refinery was involved in meeting the needs of the Russian occupation army.