An oil facility near an air base, 150 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, was attacked by Ukraine. The drone attacks for two consecutive days were seen as another sign of Ukraine’s willingness to bring the war closer to Moscow
Drones attacked an oil facility near an air base in Russia yesterday (Tuesday), one day after Ukraine used drones to strike two military bases deep inside the Soviet country, one of the most daring attacks in the past nine months by Ukraine.
Ukraine has not officially claimed responsibility for the attacks in any of the military operations inside Russia. Russian officials did not directly blame Ukraine for the attack that hit an oil depot in the Kursk region, 150 kilometers from the border. But the drone strikes for two consecutive days were seen as another sign of Ukraine’s willingness to bring the war closer to Moscow.
Ukraine’s attacks far inside Russia’s border have changed the geography of the war, exposed holes in Russia’s air defenses and signaled a determination to make Russia pay a heavier price for its relentless assault on Ukrainian civilians, the New York Times reports.
After Monday’s attacks from Ukraine inside Russia, Russia launched a barrage of missiles into Ukraine that left half of the residents of the capital Kyiv without power and worsened power outages across the country. Many Ukrainians are without heat and water in freezing temperatures.
Monday’s attacks hit two military installations hundreds of kilometers apart inside the Russian border, the Russian military airport was attacked, according to the Russian Defense Ministry and a Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The drones were launched from Ukrainian territory, and in at least one of the attacks, Ukrainian special forces were near the Russian base and helped guide the drones to the target, the official said.
Yuriy Ihanat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said that the damage to the airport in Angles appeared to be minimal. “But this is a worrying sign for them,” he said on Ukrainian national television. Many of Ukraine’s Western allies have sought to avoid an escalation of the conflict and have consistently refused to provide Kiev with weapons it could use to strike targets on Moscow’s territory. But Ukraine has proven that it is capable of developing its own arsenal. The Kremlin said Monday’s attacks were carried out by Soviet-era jet drones.