{"id":539898,"date":"2025-10-31T13:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/539898\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:26:13","slug":"ukraines-long-range-drone-war-rattles-russia-raises-stakes-for-war-and-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/539898\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine\u2019s long-range drone war rattles Russia, raises stakes for war and markets"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 At a secret location in rural Ukraine, columns of attack drones<\/a> are assembled at night and in near silence to strike deep inside Russia.<\/p>\n

Their targets are strategic: oil refineries<\/a>, fuel depots, and military logistics hubs. Since the summer, Ukraine\u2019s long-range drone campaign has ramped up dramatically, pounding energy infrastructure across Russia and stretching Moscow\u2019s air defenses thin.<\/p>\n

Built from parts made in a scattered network of workshops, these drones now fly much further than at any point in the war.<\/p>\n

Officers in body armor move with quick precision; headlamps glow red to stay hidden. Engines sputter like old motorcycles as exhaust fumes drift into the moonless night. Minutes later, one after another, the drones lift from a makeshift runway and head east. The strikes have caused gasoline shortages in Russia<\/a>, even forcing rationing in some regions and underscoring a growing vulnerability in the country\u2019s infrastructure. Lt. Gen. Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Ukrainian Security Service, said Friday that more than 160 successful strikes had been carried out against Russia\u2019s oil extraction and refining facilities so far this year.<\/p>\n

Drones hammer refineries<\/p>\n

Western analysts say the attacks on energy infrastructure so far have had a serious \u2014 but not crippling \u2014 effect. Ukrainian drones have repeatedly hit 16 major Russian refineries, representing about 38% of the country\u2019s nominal refining capacity, according to a recent review by the Carnegie Endowment, a U.S.-based think tank. <\/p>\n

But it argues the actual impact has been considerably more limited: most plants resumed operations within weeks, and Russia\u2019s refining output has been cushioned by idle capacity and existing fuel surpluses. <\/p>\n

The deep strikes have, however, given Kyiv the initiative at an important moment. The United States and Europe are ramping up sanctions<\/a> on Russia\u2019s oil industry even as Kyiv\u2019s request for U.S. long-range Tomahawk missiles has stalled<\/a>. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine\u2019s improved long-range strike capability is causing real damage<\/a> \u2013 forcing the Kremlin to import fuel and curb exports. \u201cWe believe they\u2019ve lost up to 20% of their gasoline supply \u2014 directly as a result of our strikes,\u201d he told reporters at a briefing in Kyiv. <\/p>\n

At the secret launch site, the commander overseeing the operation \u2014 a broad-shouldered man identified by his call sign, \u201cFidel,\u201d in accordance with Ukrainian military regulations \u2014 watches through night-vision goggles as the drones climb into the star-filled sky. <\/p>\n

\u201cDrones are evolving,\u201d Fidel told The Associated Press. \u201cInstead of flying 500 kilometers (310 miles), now they fly 1,000 … Three factors go into a successful operation: the drones, the people and the planning. We want to deliver the best result. For us, this is a holy mission.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ukraine thrives on no-frills weapons<\/p>\n

Much of Ukraine\u2019s fleet is homegrown. The Liutyi, a workhorse of the nightly attacks, is a waist-high craft with a sausage-shaped body, a propeller at the back, and a distinctive triangular tail. <\/p>\n

It looks neither sleek nor intimidating \u2014 more Home Depot than Lockheed Martin \u2014 but the ease of assembly means it can be kept hidden and constantly tweaked: optimized to slip through heavily monitored frontline airspace. <\/p>\n

Typical of Ukraine\u2019s no-frills war production philosophy<\/a>, the Liutyi \u2014 whose name means \u201cfierce\u201d in Ukrainian \u2014 has become a symbol of national pride and recently featured on a local postage stamp. <\/p>\n

The reach of these drones \u2014 with some models doubling in range over the past year to routinely strike targets within a 1,000-kilometer radius of the border \u2014 marks a shift in the geography of the conflict. Attacks a year ago damaged refineries in a much narrower range, mostly in western Russian border regions. Costs have also come down, further testing expensive air defense systems, with long-range drones now being produced in Ukraine for as little as $55,000. <\/p>\n

A shift in conflict geography<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is that Ukraine is getting better at taking the war inside Russia,\u201d said Adriano Bosoni, director of analysis at RANE, a global risk analysis firm. \u201cFor most of the war, Russia operated on the assumption that its own territory was safe. That\u2019s no longer the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategic logic is attrition by logistics, he argued: by forcing Russia to reroute supplies and commit air defenses to a wider area, Kyiv seeks to degrade Moscow\u2019s capacity to sustain large-scale operations. <\/p>\n

The Paris-based International Energy Agency says repeated drone strikes have cut Russia\u2019s refining capacity by about 500,000 barrels a day. That\u2019s triggered domestic fuel shortages and curbed exports of diesel and jet fuel, even as overall global oil production remains steady and prices stable.<\/p>\n

Kyiv\u2019s homegrown strike capability allows independent drone launches, bypassing the Western approval required for imported long-range weapons<\/a>. That autonomy preceded tougher sanctions on Russia: allies escalated only after Ukraine had spent months hitting Russian refineries.<\/p>\n

On the ground, each mission is a study in tradeoffs. Fewer than 30% of drones even reach the target area, so meticulous planning is essential, said Fidel, who reflected on the human cost. \u201cWar has fallen to our generation so that we can fight for our kids and they can live in a free democratic country,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are currently obtaining experience that will be used by every country in the world, and we are paying the price with our lives and the lives of our friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalists Hanna Arhirova, Illia Novikov, Evgeniy Maloletka, Dmytro Zhyhinas and Alex Babenko contributed to this report from Ukraine.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 At a secret location in rural Ukraine, columns of attack drones are assembled at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[174055,51,105966,2595,2000,299,4179,22766,8617,332,7661,657,7662,64930,2601,7660,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-539898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-adriano-bosoni","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-drone-surveillance-and-warfare","11":"tag-drones","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-lockheed-martin-corp","16":"tag-military-and-defense","17":"tag-russia","18":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","19":"tag-ukraine","20":"tag-ukraine-government","21":"tag-vasyl-maliuk","22":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","23":"tag-war-and-unrest","24":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115469011120841524","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}