Ukrainians hit Russian base 1,700 kilometers away with drones

(Patria) - The Ukrainians may have carried out the most impressive attack on Russian territory since Moscow launched its invasion 28 months ago, reports Index.hr.

Ukrainska Pravda, citing intelligence sources, writes that the Ukrainians sent drones on a journey as long as 1,700 kilometers yesterday and hit the Olenya airfield, a Russian air force base in northern Russia.

During the operation, drones were also sent towards two other air bases, as well as an oil refinery. The Ukrainian intelligence agency is using an increasing arsenal of domestically produced unmanned aerial vehicles and intensifying attacks on targets within Russian territory.

The targets are mainly airports and oil refineries, but the Ukrainians also attack weapons factories and other military facilities with drones. Due to the more extensive attacks, Russian air defense has become stretched and has problems shooting down the aircraft.

The latest attack surpassed the previous record by 480 kilometers. In May, a Ukrainian drone struck an oil refinery in Salavat, Russia, some 1,285 kilometers from the front line in Ukraine, writes Forbes.

It is not yet known what type of drone the Ukrainians used during the attack on Olenya. Modified sports planes fly the farthest, but the intelligence agency in Kyiv operates more than a dozen other types of drones.

In any case, it is clear why Kyiv wants to damage Olenya. It is one of only a few bases that routinely maintain Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers of the Russian air force.

Ukrainian troops and civilians are often attacked by cruise missiles from about 63 Tu-22M3s, along with about 55 Tupolev Tu-95s and 17 Tupolev Tu-160s.

Massive missile attacks aim to overwhelm Ukrainian air defense - and often succeed.

The bombers usually fire missiles from a distance of several hundred kilometers, which is too far for most of Ukraine's air defense.

It is not known whether Ukraine hit any bombers at the Olenya air base during yesterday's attack.

The Russians rarely admit such losses, so Western military analysts must carefully analyze satellite imagery to find evidence of destroyed combat aircraft.

For now, destroyed Tu-22M3s cannot be seen with certainty in satellite images at the northern base.

However, Ukrainian media report that such a bomber was damaged during the attack. Finnish President Alexander Stubb also reacted to the news of the attack, saying that Finns need to accept the fact that the war is approaching Finland's borders.

He added that after the attack on the Olenya base in the Murmansk region, which is less than 200 kilometers from the Finnish border, there are no direct threats to the country's security.

He said he discussed the attack with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

- Basically, we have no reason for concern. We have the situation under control. We must accept the fact that Ukraine must use all means at its disposal to win the war, and that includes various types of attacks - Stubb added.