Ukraine launched one of its biggest-ever drone attacks on Russia over the weekend, hitting a refinery and power station deep inside the country, according to videos posted on social media and geolocated, reported by CNN.
The short videos show plumes of smoke rising from targets in Moscow and the neighbouring Tver region.
The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged the size of the Ukrainian attack but downplayed its effectiveness, saying Sunday that 158 Ukrainian UAVs (uncrewed aerial vehicles) “were destroyed and intercepted by on-duty air defence” overnight in 15 regions, including over the capital.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said two drones were shot down in the area of the Moscow Oil Refinery. No casualties were reported, but the second downed drone damaged a technical building at the refinery and caused a fire, which the mayor said had been localised and did not affect the plant’s operation.
The Tver region’s governor, Igor Rudenya, said on social media that a fire caused by the drone attack on the Konakovo district had been extinguished and that gas and electricity services to the area were operating normally.
The Ukrainian drone strikes follow others in the past week, including one last Thursday that set fire to oil reservoirs at a refinery in the Rostov region of Russia, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
Social media video geolocated by CNN showed a large cloud of black smoke billowing from the Atlas oil depot in Rostov following the strike.
The recent wave of Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory began last month when Kyiv’s troops launched a cross-border incursion into the Kursk region on August 6.
Just on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that “people are going through tough ordeals, especially in the Kursk region,” as Ukrainian forces attempt to “destabilise the situation along the border.” But the attack has not stifled Russia’s offensive in the eastern Donbas region, added Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Kursk offensive is going “according to plan” but admitted “difficulty” in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Pokrovsk and Toretsk.
Zelensky said the most recent drone assaults deep inside Russia were justified by Moscow’s repeated attacks on his country.
“Just in the past week, Russia has launched over 160 missiles of various types, 780 guided aerial bombs, and 400 strike UAVs of different kinds against our people,” Zelensky said in a post on X.
On Monday, at least three people were wounded by strikes in Kyiv, as well as the eastern Kharkiv and Sumy regions, according to Ukrainian authorities. Those came after 41 people were injured following a Russian attack on civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, local authorities said.
“Russia is once again terrorising Kharkiv, striking civilian infrastructure and the city itself,” Zelensky said on X, calling on allies to “give Ukraine everything it needs to defend itself.”
“It is entirely justified for Ukrainians to respond to Russian terror by any means necessary to stop it,” Zelensky said, reiterating his call for Western countries to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons, which have prevented their use to hit targets inside Russia.
“This includes decisions to carry out long-range strikes on Russia’s missile launch sites, destroy Russian military logistics, and conduct joint efforts to shoot down missiles and drones – everything that will help us resist Russian evil,” Zelensky said.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with missile and drone attacks since its invasion.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told CNN last week that he has presented the Biden administration with a list of targets inside Russia that Kyiv wants to hit with US-supplied long-range weapons, including the Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS).
According to the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, ATACMS can be fired from mobile launchers and have a range of up to 300 kilometers (186 miles). They can deploy single high-explosive warheads or up to 900 submunitions.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also urged allies to “abandon baseless fears” and “lift restrictions on the country’s legitimate right to self-defence.”
“Ukraine is forced to fight with hands tied behind its back,” Kuleba said on Monday.
© 2024, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.