Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly told his ministers that Ukraine is trying to sow panic over his rule through sustained drone and marine-drone strikes on oil refineries, depots and tankers, insisting the resulting economic disruption is only "temporary". The article frames this as a turning point in the war, with Ukraine's intensifying campaign against Russian energy infrastructure paralysing fuel supplies to annexed Crimea and putting pressure on the Kremlin at home.

According to the report, Ukraine has struck around two dozen oil tankers in a single week, including five set ablaze overnight in the Azov Sea and two in Taganrog Bay, as Russian air defences reportedly failed. Overnight strikes also hit major oil depots at Tvernefteprodukt in the Tver region and a LUKOIL depot in Mikhailovsk, Stavropol. Footage is said to show a Sea Baby marine drone striking the tanker Blue off the Crimean port of Yalta, while Ukrainian sources claim the undersea electricity interconnector linking Crimea to Russia and some 50 energy facilities on the peninsula have been hit.