Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries are reportedly forcing Russia to look to gasoline imports from Kazakhstan.
This is stated in the daily analysis of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Three unnamed industry sources told Reuters in an article published on April 8 that Russia had asked Kazakhstan to set up an "emergency reserve" of 100,000 metric tons of gasoline for Kazakhstan to supply to Russia in the event of shortages exacerbated by Ukrainian drone strikes and subsequent refinery outages.
One of the unnamed sources said that Kazakhstan and Russia have already reached an agreement that allows Russia to use Kazakhstan's gasoline reserves in some unspecified capacity. However, the adviser to the Kazakh Minister of Energy Chingis Ilyasov denied that the Kazakh Ministry of Energy had received such requests from Russia.
On April 2, Reuters reported, citing its own data, that persistent Ukrainian drone strikes have shut down about 14 percent of Russia's total oil processing capacity.
Ukraine's General Directorate of Military Intelligence (GUD) has indirectly suggested that it may be responsible for the explosion that disabled a small missile carrier of the Russian Baltic Fleet at the naval base in Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Oblast, on April 7.
On April 8, GUR published footage allegedly showing the detonation of an explosive substance in the control room of the "Buyan-M" class corvette. of the Russian Baltic Fleet under project 21631 "Serpukhov" on April 7.
Recent discussions among select Russian military bloggers highlight the conflicting Russian rhetoric in the Russian media space between narratives that seek to portray Russian forces as more capable than Ukrainian ones and other narratives that criticize the Russian military for shortcomings leading to heavy casualties of the Russian infantry.
Several military bloggers have recently discussed and criticized the tactic of moving infantry in armored vehicles to frontline positions before dismounting to conduct frontal attacks.
This is not a new tactic for either Russian or Ukrainian forces, but the tactic, which exposes unprotected infantrymen to threats, seems to be getting more attention from Russian military commentators recently.
On April 8, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) released footage showing elements of the 98th Guards Airborne Division (Airborne Division) apparently using this tactic on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar (east of Bakhmut), where armored vehicles they transport the infantry to front positions, the infantry dismounts from them, and the armored vehicles quickly withdraw.
Another military blogger questioned why the Russian media is focusing on footage of failed Ukrainian armored attacks during the summer 2023 counteroffensive, even though Russian forces themselves struggle with many of the same tactical problems in conducting such attacks. especially due to the saturation of the battlespace with drones.
The Kremlin-aligned governor of the pro-Russian Moldovan autonomous region of Gagauzia, Yevgenia Gutsul, has hinted that Romanian officials control the Moldovan government - the latest in a series of recent efforts by the Kremlin to question the sovereignty of Europe's pro-Western governments.
On April 8, during an interview for the Russian state TV channel "Channel One" (Channel One) Gutsul said that if Gagauzia starts a process of secession from Moldova, there will be a reaction not only from the Moldovan government in Chisinau, but also from Bucharest, Romania, which, according to Gutsul, "controls" the Moldovan authorities, implying that Moldova is not sovereign.