Another oil facility deep inside Russia was reportedly on fire on Wednesday following what Ukraine's President claimed was his country's latest long-range drone attack.
The facility is in the Perm region of Russia, located in the Ural mountains, more than 1,500 kilometres from Ukraine, the Russian media said, with some unconfirmed reports saying it was a pumping station and storage complex. Perm Gov Dmitry Makhonin said only that a drone hit an unspecified industrial facility, sparking a fire.
Russian officials have not been forthcoming about Ukrainian claims that Kyiv is carrying out more long-range attacks and that its domestically developed drones are increasingly accurate. Advanced drone technology has become a defining feature of the battle as Russia’s bigger army presses its more than four-year invasion of its neighbour. Ukraine's response has included a drive to develop new drones for attack and defence.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday posted a video on the Telegram messaging app showing a large plume of black smoke rising into the sky in countryside near a built-up area. Without specifying it was the reported Perm attack or what was hit, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was expanding the range of its long-distance strikes, describing them as a new phase in efforts to limit Russia's ability to wage war by denying it crucial oil revenue. It was not possible to independently verify the video.
Zelenskyy thanked the Security Service of Ukraine for the precision of its strikes. “The straight-line distance is more than 1,500 kilometers. We will continue to increase these ranges,” he said.
The attack came a day after Ukraine struck the Tuapse oil refinery and terminal on the Black Sea for the third time in less than two weeks, prompting the evacuation of local people and threatening what Russian President Vladimir Putin said could be “serious environmental consequences”. Local authorities said the fire at the Tuapse had been “contained” by Wednesday.
Ukraine has escalated its long-distance strike campaign against Russian oil facilities in an effort to stop Moscow gaining a financial windfall from a US waiver on sanctions amid global supply restrictions caused by the Iran war, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank. Kyiv is exploiting the vulnerabilities of Russia's large land mass, it said.
“Ukrainian forces may continue to exploit the large attack surface of Russia’s deep rear and overstretched Russian air defences to launch more frequent and larger strikes against Russian oil infrastructure and military assets, supported by increased Ukrainian domestic drone production,” the institute said late on Tuesday.
The Russian Defence Ministry said Wednesday that its air defences overnight intercepted 98 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. After years of relying heavily on foreign military support, Ukraine is now poised to export its sought-after drone know-how.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is producing a surplus of up to 50 per cent in some types of weapons. Military cooperation with partners supporting Ukraine “is already underway” with countries in the Middle East, the Gulf, Europe and the Caucasus, he said on Telegram late on Tuesday.
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