Washington never forbade Ukraine to strike Russian refineries with its weapons, says envoy Markarova

Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, denied in an interview with European Pravda that American officials allegedly asked Kyiv not to strike targets on the territory of Russia.

Markarova said that she had not received any official messages about the ban on hitting Russian refineries. At the same time, she stressed that the United States forbids hitting Russian territory with American weapons.

"<...> we have restrictions from our partners who would not want their weapons to be used outside of Ukraine. But throughout the territory of Ukraine, including Crimea and all other occupied territories, we must destroy both logistical hubs and troops of the aggressor," she said.

Overnight, explosions were heard in two regions of Russia. In Smolensk Oblast, a fire broke out at "fuel and energy facilities". in Lipetsk, a drone hit an "industrial zone".

After a series of strikes by Ukrainian drones on oil refineries in the Russian Federation, its gasoline production fell. In three weeks of March, Russian refineries reduced the volume of production of automobile gasoline by 10%.

Strikes by Ukrainian drones caused damage to Russia's oil refining infrastructure, knocking out 10-15% of its capacity.

On April 2, 2024, a Ukrainian drone hit the primary oil processing facility at the refinery in Nizhnekamsk (Tatarstan), after which a fire broke out there.

As of April 7, the Orsk Oil Refinery in the Urals has stopped production. The cause was not a Ukrainian drone, but a flood. Flooding also affected Kazakhstan.