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 Moscow invaded began more than two years ago.
The attack on facilities near the cities of Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk, located some 745 miles east of Ukraine’s border, 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 a $60 billion U.S. military aid package remains stalled in Congress.
Neither side currently has the capacity to make much of a dent on the approximately 620-mile front line in the south and east. The U.S. and its NATO alllies who have supplied the Ukrainian army for defense have also been uneasy about efforts by Kyiv to extend the war into Russia’s own territory.
Ukrainian security and intelligence officials said they targeted a “drone-production site” in Yelabuga, Tatarstan, using Ukrainian-produced long-range 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. It was a rare claim of responsibility, as Kyiv officials normally decline comment about attacks on Russian soil, though they sometimes refer obliquely to them.
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 of confronting the Russian military.”
Speaking during a meeting with the top military officials, Mr. Shoigu claimed Russian troops have gained more than 155 square miles since the start of the year.
Ukraine previously has launched drone attacks in and around St. Petersburg, which lies about 620 miles north of the border. But the facilities in Tatarstan, a province on the Volga River, appears to be the most distant target Ukraine has tried to hit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last year his country had developed a weapon that hit a target 400 miles away, in an apparent reference to a drone attack on Russian soil.
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.
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