Ukrainian fills up to 1,500 km into Russia are targeting refineries and energy infrastructure, intensifying pressure on the Russian economy.

The Volodymyr Zelensky, in one of his most typical statements on the evolution of the war, sets the tone for a new phase of operations that takes the conflict deep into Russian territory, targeting critical energy and industrial infrastructure. Recent drone attacks, which according to Ukrainian reports reach distances of over 1,500 kilometers, highlight Kiev’s strategic choice to strike the core of the Russian economy by limiting the capabilities of funding and supplying Moscow’s war machine. At the same time, the intensifying use of domestic long-range technology points to the rapid evolution of Ukrainian capabilities, with Zelensky projecting a more aggressive and ever-expanding strategy of pressure against Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that Ukraine will continue to increase the range of its strikes against Russia by raising planes from an attack, according to him, with a target located at a distance of more than 1.500 kilometers.

Hit deep into Russia

Ukraine has stepped up its attacks inside Russia in recent weeks, aiming to destroy oil refineries, depots and ports and hit the largest source of funding for Moscow’s war in Ukraine as global prices rise due to the war in Iran.

Zelensky wrote in X that his country’s security service reported a successful strike in Russia’s depths, calling it “a new stage in the use of Ukrainian weapons to contain the prospect of Russian war.”

The Ukrainian president posted a video of smoke billowing into the sky, but did not specify which target was hit.

“The straight distance is over 1,500 kilometers. We will continue to extend these ranges,” he added.

Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, said in a later post that its drones struck a Russian oil pumping station near the town of Perm overnight, about 1,500 km from Ukraine.

On Tuesday, a Ukrainian drone strike caused a major fire at a Russian oil refinery in the Black Sea port of Tuapse, a third attack on the refinery in less than two weeks.

The tactic

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack evidence of increased Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said that since 2022, when Russia launched war in its neighbor, Ukraine has increased the range of its attacks against Russia by 170 percent.

Ukraine has built up a stockpile of domestically produced long-range weapons since the 2022 invasion.

In February, Ukrainian drones struck the Ukhta refinery in Russia’s Komi region, about 1,750 km from the Ukrainian border, regional officials said.

“It is important that any strike reduces the capabilities of Russia’s military industry, logistics and oil exports,” Zelensky added.