Ukraine expands strike capabilities deep into Russia, says Estonian colonel
Col. Tarmo Kundla, operational chief of the Estonian Defence Forces Command, spoke about the recent attacks on targets in Russia. He noted that the Ukrainians have weapons that provide them with an increasingly larger range of operation. We remind you that they can strike objects located deep within Russia.
The Estonian military officer, quoted by PAP, stated that "Ukrainian attacks on Russia's critical infrastructure have intensified in connection with the ongoing presidential elections in that country." In his opinion, "Ukraine can now strike targets in Russia up to the Volga River."
Ukraine attacks targets in Russia
The growing capabilities of the Ukrainians could be seen last year. The increasing drone attacks on Moscow showed that even objects hundreds of miles away from the border with Ukraine are not safe. These drones are the biggest challenge for Russians in terms of securing their own territory.
Information revealed earlier indicated that the Ukrainians have at least two types of drones that allow for long-range attacks - Rubak and Bobr.
Each of them can carry about 10 kilograms of payloads, but they differ not only in appearance but most importantly in range and duration of flight. For Rubak, the range is a maximum of about 500 kilometres. Bobr is twice as good in this regard. However, they use inertial navigation (INS) and satellite navigation (GPS). The former does not provide high precision, and the latter is vulnerable to electronic warfare systems.
Ukrainian drone with a range of over 1,000 kilometres
As already reported in August last year by Norbert Garbarek, a journalist for Wirtualna Polska, the plans of the Ukrainians involved preparing an unmanned aerial vehicle that would be able to cover 1,000 kilometres and effectively strike a selected target.
Later, not much was reported on this subject, but at the beginning of this year, there was an attack by Ukrainian drones on an oil depot in St. Petersburg. Oleksandr Kamysyn, the Ukrainian Minister of Strategic Industries, revealed that drones with a range of about 1,250 kilometres were used for the attack. However, he did not specify the drone model used.
Col. Tarmo Kundla believes that the Ukrainians clearly have the capability to "effectively strike strategic targets deep inside Russian territory." At the same time, it is worth noting that Kyiv is not giving up efforts to acquire long-range weapons from Western partners.
This includes ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometres. They are seen as a means to carry out strikes on occupied Crimea. So far, Ukraine has only received an older version of these missiles with a range of about 165 kilometres.
