Ukraine Destroys Russian Oil Depots in Smolensk
April 24th, 2024This is 500km inside Russia. Does anyone know what sort of long range unmanned system Ukraine is using for these attacks?
I found this from 2023: Zelenskyy says Ukraine has developed a long-range weapon, a day after a strike deep inside Russia:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday his country has developed a weapon that hit a target 700 kilometers (400 miles) away, in an apparent reference to the previous day’s strike on an airport in western Russia.
Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel the weapon was produced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries but gave no other details.
On Wednesday, a four-hour wave of drones that Moscow blamed on Ukraine hit an airport near Russia’s border with Estonia and Latvia, damaging four Il-76 military transport planes, according to local reports.
The airport is in Russia’s Pskov region, about 700 kilometers (400 miles) north of the Ukrainian border.
Is this really a homegrown Ukrainian system? I hope so, because if NATO systems are blowing up oil infrastructure deep inside Russia…
Not good.
Via: Politico:
Ukrainian drones destroyed two fuel storages in Russia’s Smolensk region in the early hours of Wednesday, a Ukrainian law enforcement official familiar with the matter told POLITICO.
The attacks came despite public warnings from US officials that Kyiv’s attacks on Russian oil refineries risk destabilizing global markets, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urging the country to focus on military targets.
“The SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] continues to effectively destroy the military infrastructure and logistics that provide fuel to the Russian army in Ukraine. These objects are and will remain our legitimate targets,” the Ukrainian official said, on condition of anonymity.
The strikes on the two fuel storage and pumping bases in the Smolensk region, some 500 km from the border with Ukraine. The attacks on the facilities, owned by Russian oil giant Rosneft, resulted in the loss of 26,000 cubic meters of Russian fuel, the official said.
Idk, but I saw this earlier today…
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/24/politics/us-secretly-sent-long-range-missiles-to-ukraine/index.html
They are American missiles.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68893196
The longest possible range of the ATACMS system is 300km, so it’s not that.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/04/24/ukraine-attack-drones-strike-russia-energy-sites-a84939
“Our region was again targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks,” Smolensk regional Governor Vasily Anokhin wrote on social media.
My guess is that they are using short range drones lunched from inside Russia by some spooks. I don’t beleive Ukraine as anything to do with it.
Kevin – the 500km range is innaccurate. Some journalists rounding things up. The facility at Yartsevo is only just over 300km from the Ukraine border. The other facility at Razdorovo is 275/280 km from the Ukraine border. Both are within range of ATACMS Block 1a Unitary.
If you have any reasonable source that indicates that the oil depot attacks inside Russia were done with the ATACMS, please post it.
There’s no indication of that anywhere, even from the Russians, who claim it was drones.
Nothing I can post, sorry.