Ukrainian drones wreak havoc on Russian military and oil sites

Thanks to long-range drones, Ukraine can attack targets deep within Russia. On 20th January, one such target was the Smolensk Air Plant. This is a centre for servicing old Yak-18T planes, but also a place for manufacturing new, piston-engined SM92 Finist aircraft. These are machines that, apart from civilian applications, are used in armed versions by the Russian border guard.

The plant in Smolensk is also a centre for the production of dangerous weapons—the Kh-59M missiles—used for attacks on Ukraine. They can be carried by aircraft such as the Su-24M, Su-30, Su-34, or Su-35.

Attacks on targets hundreds of miles away are enabled by drones like the UJ-26 Beaver. The unmanned aerial vehicle has a range of 800-1,000 kilometres, is 2.5 metres long, and has a turboprop engine allowing it to fly at speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour. The Beaver can carry a warhead weighing up to 75 kilograms.

Alongside arms factories, Ukrainians have targeted petrochemical infrastructure. Within a short time, fuel depots in Tula and the Kaluga region were attacked, and subsequently near the Engels base and the town of Liski. All attacks were successful, as confirmed by satellite images.

These images allow us to compare the state of the infrastructure before and after the attack. As seen in satellite images, the fuel and lubricant tanks were destroyed as a result of the attacks. According to the Space 24 service, the scale of destruction is large enough to disrupt, among other things, the supply of consumables for Russian strategic bombers.

Moreover, Ukrainian actions are limiting Russian capabilities in the field of oil processing; the attacks result not only in problems with delivering the required amounts of fuel to the front but also in reduced Kremlin profits from trading oil and related materials.