Ukrainian media including Kanal 5 and Hromadske reported, citing a security service source, that a drilling platform at the Rakushechnoye field in the Caspian Sea was hit with drones.
According to the source, the operation was conducted with a drone. The moment of the strike was recorded by the UAV’s onboard camera, and a screenshot from the video was provided to media.
The strike targeted the area of a gas-turbine unit, described as a critical element of the platform. The extent of the damage is being assessed.
The Rakushechnoye oil and gas field, later renamed the Valery Grayfer field, is located in the northern Caspian Sea and is among Russia’s major offshore projects. It is developed within the Caspian oil and gas cluster, which plays a notable role in supporting hydrocarbon exports and contributing to Russia’s budget revenues. The field is equipped with a fixed offshore drilling platform powered by gas-turbine equipment that supplies energy to production and auxiliary systems.
This is the third Russian offshore oil platform in the Caspian reportedly struck by Ukrainian drones. Earlier, similar attacks hit the ice-resistant platforms at the Filanovsky and Korchagin fields, forcing a halt to operations at those sites.
The operations appear to be systematic and aimed at undermining the economic base that finances the war against Ukraine.
“The SBU continues to systematically reduce oil-dollar inflows to Russia’s war budget. All facilities that fund aggression against Ukraine are fully legitimate targets,” the source said.
