Ukraine War Comes To... The Caspian Sea
Ukraine has extended the war to a far flung body of water and unexpected place. Ukraine's military has newly revealed that its special forces conducted successful operations against Russian oil, military, logistics assets in the Caspian Sea.
The Caspian Sea is some 700 miles from the front lines in Ukraine, and is the world's largest inland body of water, which is bordered by Russia and Kazakhstan to the north and Iran to the South, among other small countries.
Ukraine revealed Thursday its long-range drones targeted and hit major offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea. The offshore oil field run by Lukoil had to effectively halt production, according to Oil Price. It is said to be the single biggest oil field in the Russian sector of the Caspian.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said its forces targeted the Vladimir Filanovsky field which lies in the northern sector of the sea. Four drones reportedly struck the offshore platform, causing a stoppage over over 20 wells.
"This is Ukraine’s first strike on Russian infrastructure related to oil production in the Caspian Sea," a Ukrainian official told CNN. The person described "another reminder to Russia that all its enterprises working for the war are legitimate targets."
In parallel, Ukraine's special forces are touting that an additional operation has taken place: it says it struck two Russian military-linked ships in the Caspian Sea near Kalmykia - a republic in southern Russia, north of the North Caucasus.
The vessels have since been identified as the Composer Rakhmaninoff and the Askar-Sarydzha, which are both sanctioned by the Washington for transporting military cargoes between Iran and Russia.
Apparently in this case, Ukraine had help from a local proxy militia group, per Ukrainian media:
Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SSO) said they carried out a joint operation with the insurgent group Chornaya Iskra ("Black Spark”), targeting two Russian vessels close to Russia's Kalmykia coast. The ships were identified as the Kompozitor Rakhmaninov and Askar Sarydzha. Both had been sanctioned by the US...
International monitors have indicated that between August and the end of November of this year, Ukraine has struck nearly 80 Russian energy facilities in total.
Next big news, for the 2nd successive day, is from the Caspian Sea.
— Tim White (@TWMCLtd) December 12, 2025
Ukraine says it's hit 2 more Russian ships on intnl sanctions lists, off the coast of Kalmykia which I highlighted on the map. Kyiv says the “Kompositor Rachmaninov” + “Askar-Sarydzha” were transporting weapons pic.twitter.com/sp4TEYMwxy
Kiev is desperately trying to play the only card it has - choking off energy revenue and funding for Russia's war machine. But so far the Kremlin has weathered the storm, but still may feel the squeeze down the line - especially amid slowed repair efforts given the sheer volume of incidents.
Russia has taken desperate measures, even draping refineries and oil depots with giant netting - or else ramping up ground anti-drone forces. But throughout the war, small long-range drones have proven devastating and able to oftentimes penetrate even the most sophisticated defensive measures.
"What used to be occasional strikes meant to cause damage has become a sustained effort to keep refineries from ever fully stabilizing," said Nikhil Dubey, senior refining analyst at data and analytics firm Kpler.