Attack by drones from Ukraine target refinery, factory in Russia
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian drones attacked one of Russia’s biggest oil refineries and a drone factory in the Russian province of Tatarstan, officials said Tuesday, in what appeared to be Kyiv’s deepest strike inside Russian territory since the war began more than two years ago.
The attack on facilities near the cities of Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk, some 745 miles east of Ukraine, injured 12 people, Russian regional authorities said.
In recent months, Russian refineries and oil terminals have become priority targets of Ukrainian drone attacks, part of stepped-up assaults on Russian territory.
Ukrainian drone developers have been extending the weapons’ range for months as Kyiv attempts to compensate for its battlefield disadvantage in weapons and troops. The unmanned aerial vehicles are also an affordable option while Ukraine waits for more U.S. military aid.
Neither side currently has the capacity to make much of a dent on the roughly 620-mile front line.
Ukrainian security and intelligence officials said they targeted a “drone-production site” in Yelabuga, Tatarstan, using Ukrainian-produced longrange drones. Tatarstan is known for its high level of industrialization, and a factory near Yelabuga has reportedly built Iranian-designed Shahed exploding drones.
The Ukrainian officials also said that intelligence services were involved in an overnight attack on the Nizhnekamsk oil refinery.
Tatarstan officials said the attack didn’t disrupt industrial production, while Nizhnekamsk’s mayor said the attempt to strike the refinery was thwarted by air defenses.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Kyiv was trying to divert attention from its military setbacks by attempting to strike the Russian territory “to persuade its Western sponsors that it remains capable to confront the Russian military.”
Speaking during a meeting with the top military brass, Shoigu claimed Russian troops have gained some 155 square miles since the start of the year.
Ukraine has also developed deadly sea drones that have struck Russian navy ships in the Black Sea. Those successful strikes have embarrassed the Kremlin, and on Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to appoint Adm. Alexander Moiseyev as the new navy chief, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Putin also named Vice Adm. Sergei Pinchuk as the new commander of the navy’s Black Sea Fleet after the dismissal of his predecessor, Adm. Viktor Sokolov.
Meanwhile, the governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, said a Russian rocket attack on the regional capital Dnipro on Tuesday afternoon injured 18 people, including five teenagers.
The regional interior ministry said the attack destroyed a kindergarten building and a school.