Ukraine claims long-range drone strikes on Russian infrastructure

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that Ukraine will continue to expand the operational range of its strike capabilities against Russia. Zelenskiy shared footage of a strike at a distance exceeding 1,500 kilometers, though he did not immediately specify the target. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) subsequently confirmed that its drones struck an oil pumping station near the city of Perm, located approximately 1,500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. This follows a separate incident on Tuesday, where a drone attack caused a fire at an oil refinery in the Black Sea port of Tuapse, marking the third such strike on that facility in less than two weeks. Ukrainian officials state that these operations aim to disrupt Russian energy infrastructure and reduce the funding capacity for the ongoing war. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, the operational range of its strikes has increased by 170% since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Conversely, Russian President Vladimir Putin characterized these incidents as evidence of increasing Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets.