The U.S. and its NATO proxies are losing on the battle fields of Ukraine. The Biden administration, attempting to 'Trump proof', i.e. prolong, the conflict, is thus (again) trying to defeat Russia by targeting its economic means.
This predominantly by cutting the sales of Russian resources. That third parties, the buyers in need of those products, will also be hurt by this is not of concern but can be seen as an additional feature.
The new wave of measures started on January 1 with the blocking of the last pipeline through Ukraine from Russia to Europe:
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the move means Russia can no longer “earn billions on our blood”.
His energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, confirmed on Wednesday morning that Kyiv had stopped the gas flows “in the interest of national security”.
“This is a historic event,” he wrote on the social media platform Telegram. “Russia is losing markets and will incur financial losses.”
The deal had allowed for Russian gas to travel through Ukraine’s pipeline networks into European countries, primarily Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.
With the end of this pipeline Ukraine will lose $640 million rent per year. It will expect the Europeans to make up for this. At the same time Hungary, Slovakia and Austria will now have to pay significant higher prices for gas.
For Russia though the losses due to selling that gas through other channels, like the TurkStream pipelines, are marginal.
The next step followed last week with the announcement of additional sanctions:
The sanctions will cover two major Russian petroleum producers and exporters — Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas — both of which are involved in the export of liquified natural gas and efforts to expand the Russian energy sector into the Arctic. They are expected to cut off Moscow’s revenue stream to the tune of billions of dollars per month, putting new strain on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort against Ukraine.
Separately, the State Department will also block “two active liquefied natural gas projects, a large Russian oil project, and third-country entities supporting Russia’s energy exports” from access to the American financial system and add “numerous Russia-based oilfield service providers and senior officials of State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom” to its list of “designated entities” who are banned from the United States.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement that the U.S. is “taking sweeping action against Russia’s key source of revenue for funding its brutal and illegal war against Ukraine.”
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A second administration official who also briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said the new sanctions will target 183 maritime vessels that are understood to be part of Moscow’s “shadow fleet,” as well as “dozens” of oil traders and oil field services providers based in Russia.
These sanctions will increase the price of oil and gas for everyone.
A senior Biden administration official who briefed reporters on the move said the White House was choosing to impose the new sanctions just days before President Joe Biden leaves office because both oil markets and the American economy are “in a fundamentally better place” than they were at any other point during the war.
The coming price rise caused by these sanctions will thus be explained as a failure of Trump.
A day later Ukrainian forces attacked the compressor station on Russian ground that is feeding the TurkStream pipeline system:
On 11 January 2025, in an attempt to disrupt gas supplies to European countries, the Kiev's regime launched an attack by nine fixed-wing UAVs at the Russkaya Compressor Station near Gay-Kodzor (Krasnodar region), which ensures gas supply over the TurkStream pipeline.
While repelling the attack, air defence units shot down all UAVs.
Russian officials left no doubt of who is to hold responsible for this:
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged at a news conference on Tuesday that Washington is encouraging “terrorist” attacks on his country’s energy infrastructure, and claimed there are plans to target TurkStream.
“The US does not tolerate competition in any sphere, including energy. They are recklessly endorsing terrorist activities aimed at undermining the energy stability of the European Union,” Lavrov said, according to Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency.
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The pipeline is the last carrying Russian gas into the EU after Ukraine refused to renew a transit contract that expired at the end of 2024. The halt on that route has further disrupted EU unity on the war, with Slovakia claiming it will cause a crisis and threatening to block EU support for Kyiv.
The attack on TurkStream was followed two days later by another large scale assault on Russian oil infrastructure:
Ukraine struck several targets deep inside Russia on Tuesday in what it says is its "most massive" attack of the war so far.
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Russia said it had shot down US-supplied Atacms missiles as well as UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles, and vowed to respond to the attack.
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Strikes in the border region of Bryansk caused explosions at a refinery, ammunition depots and a chemical plant said to produce gunpowder and explosives, a Ukrainian security source told the BBC.
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But Kyiv also struck far deeper into the country, with the General Staff claiming to have hit targets up to 1,100km (700 miles) from the border.In the western region of Saratov, officials reported a "massive" drone attack.
Two industrial plants in the cities of Engels and Saratov were damaged, regional governor Roman Busargin wrote on Telegram.
Russia promptly promised to retaliate:
Last night, the AFU launched a missile strike at objects in Bryansk region by six U.S.-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles, six UK-made Storm Shadow air-based cruise missiles, and 31 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles from the territory of Ukraine.
During the air defence battle, all air attack means were shot down by air defence crews. There were no casualties or wounded as a result of the attack.
In addition, two UK-made Storm Shadow air-based cruise missiles were shot down over the Black Sea waters.
These actions of the Kiev regime, supported by Western curators, will not go unanswered.
The answer came last night when a barrage of drones and missiles hit Ukrainian electricity and gas infrastructure. The main target was Europe's biggest gas storage facility near Lviv in western Ukraine.
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Ukraine has little to win from waging an infrastructure war against Russia. But Zelensky as well as the U.S. 'war party' still hope to profit from it.
As Strana analyses (machine translation):
[I]n addition to the purely military aspect, these strikes also have an informational and political aspect. And it lies roughly on the same plane as allowing Western long-range weapons attacks on the Russian Federation, the murder of a Russian general and military-industrial complex figures, Vladimir Zelensky's policy against Vladimir Putin and his promise to "take revenge" on Russia even after the end of hostilities.
We have already written that all this is working to strengthen the position of the Russian "war party", which declares that "there is nothing to negotiate with Ukraine, this is a terrorist state that will always pose a threat to Russia, and therefore it must be destroyed. There is also nothing to negotiate with the West.
The goal of such statements and actions is to minimize the likelihood that Putin will find a common language with Donald Trump on a compromise basis in order to end the war on the front line in the near future.
The Ukrainian authorities do not want this option to end the war. …
To continue attacks which incite the Russian public against Ukraine is an additional method to make a peace agreement more unlikely.
The over arching aim of the Zelensky regime and the Biden administration is to prevent a peace agreement between the U.S. and Russia.
War will keep the money flowing to Zelensky's Ukraine. As long as Russian gas supplies can be kept from European markets the U.S. will profit from it. Europe's industry will falter while the U.S. military industrial complex can strive.