Ukrainian special forces have struck a major Russian offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea, halting production at one of the country's largest energy facilities, according to a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) cited by Ukrinform.
Ukrainian drones strike Russian Caspian oil platform for the first time
A source in the SBU told Ukrinform that long-range drones from the SBU’s Alpha special operations center hit the Filanovsky oil extraction platform, which belongs to Lukoil-Nizhnevolzhskneft. The strike marks the first confirmed Ukrainian attack on Russian oil infrastructure in the Caspian Sea.
At least four drone hits were reportedly recorded on the offshore platform. As a result of the operation, oil and gas production from more than 20 wells serviced by the site came to a stop.
The Filanovsky field is one of the largest discovered in Russia. According to the source, the site holds reserves of 129 million tons of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas. The extracted resources were routed for export through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.
The source emphasized that the SBU continues to expand the scope of its special operations targeting Russia’s oil and gas sector.
“The ‘cotton’ in the Caspian Sea is another reminder to Russia that any of its enterprises working for the war are legitimate targets, wherever they are located,” the source said.
The "cotton" is a Ukrainian humorous term based on Russia’s euphemistic хлопо́к ("clap") downplaying explosions in reports about Russia, which machine translation often misrenders as хло́пок “cotton.”
