Ukraine has succeeded in depriving Russia of much of the windfall profits it would have made from oil exports during March and April, as the war in the Gulf sent prices soaring to above $100 a barrel, a series of sources suggest.

Ukraine intensified a long-range strike campaign against Russian port and energy infrastructure on March 21 in a calculated bid to prevent Russia from offloading oil onto tankers and to counteract the suspension of US sanctions on Russian oil, which had been in place since 2022.

“In March alone, Russia’s oil revenue losses from our long-range capabilities are estimated at no less than $2.3bn. In just one month. We continue this work in April,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address on Sunday, April 19.

Russia’s oil transhipments in March fell by 300,000 barrels a day, and refined products by 200,000 barrels a day, Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service cited S&P Global Platts as saying.