Maliuk said that at least 20 of those strikes were conducted in September and October alone, targeting six oil refineries, two oil terminals, three fuel depots, and nine pumping stations.

“These are legitimate military targets. Oil extraction and refining make up around 90% of Russia’s defense budget. These are the dirty petro-rubles funding the war against us,” he added.

Maliuk claimed that Russian domestic fuel shortages have reached up to 20%, with 37% of its refining capacity forced to shut down. Fuel deficits were reported in 57 Russian regions, prompting Moscow to ban gasoline exports until the end of the year.

Strikes on Russian oil infrastructure and military-industrial sites are part of an ongoing campaign carried out primarily by domestically produced Ukrainian drones.

The operations are designed to disrupt Russia’s war economy and its military capabilities.

Russian strikes have caused sweeping blackouts affecting tens of thousands of people, with Moscow targeting Ukraine’s power grid for the fourth winter running in what Kyiv and its backers say is a deliberate and cynical strategy to wear down Ukraine’s civilian population.

Russia’s army fired 270 missiles over October, up 46 percent on the previous month, according to an AFP analysis of daily data published by Ukraine’s air force.

That was the highest one-month tally since Kyiv started routinely publishing statistics at the beginning of 2023.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of wanting to sow “chaos” by striking the country’s energy grid so intensely.

“Russia’s task is to create chaos and apply psychological pressure on the population through strikes on energy facilities and railways,” Zelensky told journalists at a briefing last month.

As in previous winters, rolling blackouts have been introduced in every region of the country, including Kyiv, throughout October to deal with shortfalls in power.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague last year issued arrest warrants for top Russian army officials for the “war crime of causing excessive” harm to civilians by striking Ukrainian energy sites.

Russia also fired 5,298 long-range drones at Ukraine in October, the same data showed — down by around six percent on the number it fired in September but still close to record highs.

Russia fires drones at Ukrainian cities and energy sites on a daily basis.

Kyiv has retaliated with strikes on Russian oil depots and refineries, seeking to cut off Moscow’s vital energy exports and trigger fuel shortages across the country.

The organizers are reportedly maintaining “utmost secrecy” for the event planned for November 4, instructing delegates from 35 countries to leave their cell phones in a designated room and refrain from posting about the gathering on social media, according to a government document cited by the outlet.

Participants are expected to discuss ways to increase military and financial aid for Kiev, as well as possible security guarantees. They will also coordinate additional pressure on Russia. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares is set to attend, El Mundo reported.

The Kremlin argued earlier this month that Ukrainian forces could not have conducted strikes on energy facilities deep inside Russia without direct support from Western intelligence services. Moscow has said that Western military assistance will only serve to escalate the conflict without altering the situation on the battlefield.

US President Donald Trump has recently declined to provide Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, warning against depleting the US arsenal. He also indefinitely postponed his planned in-person summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary.