05/18/2026
Ukrainian intelligence has received Russian documents with new estimates of the aggressor country’s losses from the war. According to the latest data, the number of active
oil wells in Russia has decreased by about 400, and oil refining has decreased by at least 10%.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this following a meeting with Oleh Luhovsky, First Deputy Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine. He emphasized that the long-range sanctions imposed by the Ukrainian side are yielding results.
“Our Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine has received new Russian documents with an assessment of the aggressor country’s losses from the war. And it is important that this is precisely the Russian internal assessment that they are trying to hide from both the world and the domestic Russian audience,” the head of state wrote.
New intelligence data indicates a crisis in the Russian economy
The first significant indicator, according to Zelensky, was the reduction in the number of active oil wells in Russia. In particular, one of the Russian oil companies, which is not among the largest, has already been forced to stop the operation of approximately 400 such facilities.
“Given the specifics of Russian oil production, these are significant losses, since restarting wells in Russia is much more difficult than in other oil-producing countries,” the report says.
The second indicator, the Ukrainian leader added, is the reduction in oil refining by at least 10% in just a few months this year.
“We see that our Ukrainian long-range sanctions are really working, and we will increase this direction of our active actions,” he emphasized.
No less revealing are the data on the Russian banking sector, where signs of a deepening crisis are being recorded. In particular, 11 financial institutions are preparing for complete liquidation due to problems that cannot be solved in other ways, and another eight banks have critical financial difficulties that cannot be compensated without attracting external support.
“The federal budget deficit figures for this year are also optimistic for us, namely almost $80 billion in the fifth month of the year, and this is against the backdrop of the bankruptcy of a significant part of Russian regional budgets,” the head of state said.
Zelensky instructed Lugovsky to disseminate the information received in the format regarding Russia’s attempts to involve international companies to stabilize the financial crisis and circumvent sanctions.
In particular, the Ukrainian side recorded attempts to organize the export of grain from temporarily occupied Crimea, as well as other economic exploitation of the peninsula with the participation of entities from the United States.
“We will inform partners. We are also detecting attempts to introduce investments and technologies from countries of the democratic world into Russian oil and gas Arctic projects. We know how to counteract them. Thank you to everyone who helps! Thank you to all our Ukrainian intelligence officers!”, Zelensky wrote.
Recall that the Kremlin is facing serious difficulties in realizing the growth of oil and gas revenues. The Russian authorities’ efforts to contain domestic prices and the consequences of strikes on infrastructure are effectively depriving the Kremlin of excess profits. Russians spend a significant share of their income on emergency modernization and repair of oil refineries.
As OBOZ.UA reported, the socio-economic situation in the aggressor country of Russia continues to deteriorate. Its economy has finally entered recession, with a 1.5% annualized decline recorded in the first quarter of 2026 – the worst performance since the introduction of large-scale Western sanctions.
There’s still work to be done to erase more oil refining capacity in the mafia state.