From today to Monday evacuation operations are underway in Kherson from the left bank of the Dnieper River, where hostilities are expected to intensify. This was reported by the regional military administration, which is allowing people to cross the river, which was banned until yesterday. there Meanwhile, Russia would have lost 510 men on the final day, taking losses in the Russian ranks to 90,600 since the day of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, February 24. This was announced by the daily bulletin of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine published on Facebook, which reports numbers that cannot be independently verified.
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According to the Ukrainian military, Russian losses so far amount to around 90,600 men, 2,917 tanks, 5,886 armored vehicles, 1,906 artillery systems, 395 multiple rocket launchers, 210 anti-aircraft systems. Russian forces also lost 280 aircraft, 263 helicopters, 4,472 vehicles, 16 naval units and 1,578 drones, according to the bulletin, which states that the data is being updated due to the intense fighting.
Meanwhile, according to the Financial Times, Moscow is allegedly building a “shadow fleet” to circumvent restrictions on the sale of oil that Western countries introduced in response to the invasion of Ukraine. According to FT, once sanctions come into force, Russia will need more tankers as the duration of each voyage increases as oil previously sold in Europe is sent to new buyers in Asia. For the British newspaper, the creation of a “shadow fleet” will reduce the impact of the sanctions, but not eliminate them.
Russia, which is heavily dependent on foreign tankers for oil transport, has built up a fleet of more than 100 aging tankers, according to shipping broker Braemar. According to energy consultancy Rystad, Russia added 103 tankers to its oil supply chain in 2022 by buying and redeploying ships serving Iran and Venezuela, two countries subject to a Western oil embargo. The company also notes that as many as 29 supertankers, known as Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), were bought by Russian-affiliated operators in 2022. These are large crude oil tankers capable of transporting more than 2 million barrels each.
Russia is also believed to have added 31 Suezmax tankers, each capable of transporting about 1 million barrels, and 49 Aframax tankers, each capable of transporting about 700,000 barrels, to its fleet. According to analysts, Russia will continue to experience a shortage of tankers and will have difficulty maintaining export levels in the first months of 2023, which will lead to an increase in prices. Russia needs more than 240 tankers to maintain current export volume.