Ukraine Targets Russian Oil Facilities and Military Sites in Fresh Drone Strikes

Escalating its long-range drone offensive, Ukraine announced a series of overnight raids on Russian, targeting the country’s key infrastructure including oil refineries, military air bases, and an electronics plant, a report published by Reuters said on Saturday. The raids follow continued fighting in eastern Ukraine as well as rising drone attacks on both sides.

Major Oil and Military Targets Targeted

In a declaration released through Telegram, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) claimed it had attacked several Russian installations, including:

• The Ryazan refinery, some 180 kilometerrs (110 miles) southeast of Moscow, where a fire erupted reportedly after the strike.
• The Annanefteprodukt oil storage plant in the Voronezh province, which borders north-eastern Ukraine.
• A Russian airbase in Primorsko-Akhtarsk, which Ukraine suspects Russia employs to fire long-range drones into Ukraine.
• A Penza factory that Ukraine’s SBU security agency says provides Russia’s military-industrial base with electronics.

Though the Ukrainian side did not provide  details on how the facilities were targeted, both the SBU and the USF use long-range kamikaze drones that can carry explosive payloads hundreds of kilometers, according to Reuters.

Russia Yet to Respond Publicly

As of Saturday, Russia had not issued any official response to the reported Ukrainian raids. The Russian Defence Ministry, however, said in its daily military briefing that it had destroyed 338 Ukrainian drones overnight using its air defence systems.

Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, reported that 45 of 53 Russian drones fired at its territory over the same time were intercepted.

Ground fighting persists in Eastern Ukraine

Russia’s defence ministry also stated that its soldiers had taken over the village of Oleksandro-Kalynove in the Donetsk province.

As the conflict enters its fourth year, Russian troops are now estimated to hold almost 20% of the Ukrainian land, primarily in the east and south of the country.