It is, by far, Ukraine’s longest-range raid—and an escalation of Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign targeting Russian refineries, factories and strategic military sites.
And it’s at least the fourth attempted deep strike involving Ukraine’s sport-plane drones.
The Ukrainian intelligence directorate, working in conjunction with the country’s special operations command, has turned two locally-made plane types into drones: the Aeroprakt A-22 and Aerosor Nynja.
Both planes cruise at around 100 miles per hour and blend in with civilian air traffic, making them difficult to intercept.
The refinery is one of the bigger oil facilities in Russia.
It’s possible the raids are meant to stress Russia’s air defenses—by forcing them to protect hundreds of potential targets across Russia.
In that way, those sport planes winging deep into Russia are helping thin out defenses for raids with more immediate and obvious impact. »
