Ukraine’s launch of another wave of kamikaze drones deep into Russia on Wednesday set three major refineries ablaze and damaged two air bases and contributed to a 3 percent spike in the price of oil to $84 a barrel of Brent. This threatens to raise gasoline prices for summer drivers on the eve of the presidential election here in America. 

The two-day bombing campaign, the largest Russia has faced since World War II,  targeted energy facilities in 10 Russian regions. Since Tuesday, the explosive drones, some flying hundreds of miles deep into Russia, have hit five refineries. The attacks put about 15 percent of Russia’s refining capacity offline – a major setback for one of the world’s top oil exporters.

“We are systematically implementing a step-by-step strategy to undermine the economic capacity of the Russian Federation,” Ukraine’s national intelligence agency, the SBU, said Wednesday. “Our objective is to deprive the enemy of resources and reduce the flow of petroleum-based products that the Russian Federation is using directly for war, for the murder of our citizens.” 

The SBU pronounced the results of the bombing campaign “satisfactory.” President Zelensky said in a Tuesday night TV address: “Those in the Kremlin must get used to the fact that terror does not go unpunished for them.” 

On Wednesday, President Putin said his nation is “technically ready” to use nuclear weapons “if we are talking about the existence of the Russian state, about damaging our sovereignty and independence.” Broadcast nationwide in an interview on state TV, the comments were largely seen as designed to project an image of national protector in presidential elections that start tomorrow. 

Running without serious opposition, Mr. Putin is expected to easily win a fifth term, giving him another six years in the Kremlin.

Ukraine’s leadership has decided that Russia’s lightly defended oil refining and export facilities constitute the nation’s Achilles’ heel. Frustrated by the negligible impact of Western sanctions on Russia’s oil exports, Kyiv conducted in January what now looks like a test air campaign against Russian energy facilities. In the intervening two months, Russian plant managers do not seem to have invested seriously in defending against the drones which grind through the sky at 40 mph, sounding like flying lawnmowers.

In one video posted on the Internet yesterday, a drone can be seen circling Ryazan refinery in broad daylight, oblivious to the crackle of rifle fire from the ground. Suddenly, the drone swoops into a vertical dive, going kamikaze-style down a cracking tower, setting off an orange explosion with flames rising three stories.

On Wednesday, three drones hit the Ryazan refinery, about 400 miles northeast of Ukraine. One of Russia’s largest, the complex refines 5 percent of Russia’s oil. In another attack, drones knocked out half of production at Lukoil’s refinery at Nizhny Novgorod, about 500 miles northeast of Ukraine. In January, the refinery, one of Russia’s largest, was damaged in a drone attack. 

In Mr. Putin’s pre-recorded interview broadcast on Rossiya-1 state television, he was asked about drone and cross border attacks from Ukraine. He responded: “The main goal, I have no doubt about it, is to — if not to disrupt the presidential elections in Russia — then at least to somehow interfere with the normal process of expressing the will of citizens.”

The interview aired the day after Russian exile groups conducted cross border raids into two Russian regions — Belgorod and Kursk. On Thursday, fighting continued for a third day, but there was little news of advances or retreats. Displaying ambitions to attack the capitals of the two regions, the three exile groups asked local authorities to evacuate civilians from the two regional capitals.

After the first day of fighting, Russia’s defense ministry claimed that 234 rebels were killed. The rebel groups did not declare any casualties. In their statements, they say their goals are to disrupt the presidential election, to draw Russian soldiers from the 600-mile front line with Ukraine, and to end Moscow’s use of the two border regions as staging areas to shell Kharkiv. Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv is 20 miles west of the border with Belgorod region.

“The main task of the Corps is and will be the dismantling of the Kremlin regime and we will make our raids deep into the territory of the Russian Federation time after time, attracting more and more supporters,” vowed the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps, Denis Kapustin. “It is especially important for us to speak out on the eve of the farce called ‘elections.’”

While American congressional representatives wrangle over voting on the $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, the 27 countries of the European Union countries agreed Wednesday to provide $5.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine. The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, posted on X after the vote: “The message is clear: we will support Ukraine with whatever it takes to prevail.”

In Washington, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans believe they have the votes to pass the legislation and hope to force a House vote in coming days. The Senate approved the Ukraine aid one month ago.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told reporters Wednesday that the West should step on the brakes. “As a result of the ill-considered provocative actions of even one or two EU or NATO member states, the Ukrainian crisis could absolutely go beyond its geographical borders, acquire a completely different scale and develop uncontrollably.”

The foreign ministry spokeswoman advised the West to give up on the idea of strategically defeating Russia and stop supporting Ukraine with money and weapons.

Reflecting growing suspicion of Russia in Europe, Warsaw’s mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski, told reporters yesterday that the city will spend $30 million over the next three years to provide the city of 2 million with bomb shelters. Subway stations and underground garages will be priority locations, he said.

President Putin in a Wednesday TV interview, derided Finland’s entry into NATO as “a meaningless step.” He said: “We didn’t have troops there [at the Finnish border], now they will be there. There were no systems of destruction there, now they will appear.” 

In response, Finland’s prime minister, Petteri Orpo, warned the European Parliament: “Russia is evidently preparing for a long conflict with the West and represents a permanent and essential military threat to Europe.” Urging EU member nations to increase defense spending, he said: “Russia is not invincible.”