A Ukrainian attack drone flew a record distance of 930 miles to strike an oil hub in central Russia, intelligence chiefs said.
The drone slammed into a Russian oil processing plant in the Bashkortostan region on Thursday after flying a “record” distance of 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) in an operation carried out through the SBU security services, according to a Kyiv intelligence service.
The drone hit a catalytic cracking unit at Gazprom’s Neftekhim Salavat oil, petrochemical and fertilizer complex, it said.
Russia showed the damage to the plant, but said the facility is operating normally.
As it intensifies its drone war, Ukraine will bring new Western weapons to the front lines to impede the Russian advance.
The first Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets are expected to arrive in Ukraine between June and July, according to a senior military source.
Drones introduced through the SBU also hit two oil depots near the town of Anapa in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, causing large-scale fires, a Ukrainian intelligence source added on Thursday.
The source said the oil depots were being used as a means of fuel transshipment for Russian troops in the nearby occupied Crimean peninsula.
“The SBU will continue Russia’s economic and logistical prospects for fighting a war,” the source said.
Ukraine says it produces the same number of deep-strike drones as Russia, claiming it has achieved parity in a key weapon that Moscow has used for long-range strikes for much of its invasion.
Britain has provided generation of drones to Kyiv and Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has subsidized Ukraine using UK-provided weapons to attack Russia’s interior.
Unable to temporarily equip Russia’s vast arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles, Kyiv has focused on generating long-range drones so it can retaliate against Russia, which has bombed Ukraine during the 26-month invasion.
“In 2024, Ukraine has been on par with Russia in terms of the amount of kamikaze drone production of the Shahed-131 and Shahed-136,” Herman Smetanin, head of Ukraine’s state-owned arms manufacturer, told Defense Ministry media outlet ArmyInform.
Shahed drones, which Kyiv says were first purchased from Iran before part of its production was located in Russia’s Tatarstan region, have been a staple of Russian airstrikes since they were first used against Ukraine in the fall of 2022.
The drones, equipped with explosives and detonating on impact, are nicknamed “mopeds” among Ukrainians because of the roar of their engines that can be heard flying in the sky.
Smetanin said his comment about production figures also applies to other types of attack drones. He gave figures.
Ukraine has introduced dozens of drone strikes this year against oil refineries deep in Russian territory and has also targeted military facilities and the Black Sea Fleet in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.
Ukraine’s military intelligence firm says Russia is capable of generating up to 350 Shahed drones per month. Russia discloses its production figures and considers these data to be secret.
Kyiv will build one million drones this year.
Ukrainian air defense systems destroyed 17 of the 20 attack drones introduced through Russia targeting Ukrainian territory, the Ukrainian Air Force announced on Thursday.
The drones destroyed the Odesa area in southern Ukraine, the air force said.
A Ukrainian airstrike in Russia’s Belgorod region wounded eight more people and destroyed many residential buildings and cars, the governor of the region bordering Ukraine said on Thursday.
Among the injured was an 11-year-old woman who was taken to the hospital, Gladkov said.
Russian air defense destroyed 15 rockets launched with the RM-70 Vampir formula and a drone over the region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Three drones were shot down over Russia’s Kursk region and two over the Bryansk region, the ministry added.
Vladimir Putin on Thursday attempted his invasion, accusing the West of risking a global clash and said no one would be allowed to threaten nuclear force as Russia commemorated the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II on May 9.
As Russian troops advance against Western-backed Ukrainian forces, Putin has accused “arrogant” Western elites of forgetting the decisive role played through the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany.
The Russian president sent his to Ukraine in February 2022 in hopes of seizing Kyiv in a lightning advance.
But its troops have been forced to retreat to the eastern Donbas region, where they are seizing a limited domain of land while suffering heavy losses, according to British military sources.
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