Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Kyiv had struck further oil facilities deep inside Russia during nighttime attacks, intensifying its strategy to cripple Moscow’s wartime economy and embarrass the Kremlin.
These persistent strikes have caused fuel shortages and rattled Russians, while heartening Ukrainians who face regular Russian barrages that Kyiv’s weakened air defences struggle to counter.
Zelenskyy, speaking on social media, specified two targets: a refinery in Bashkortostan, over 1,300 kilometres behind the eastern front line, and another in the Yaroslavl region, nearly 700 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
Ukrainian forces also hit two Russian military patrol boats in the Black Sea, according to Zelenskyy, as well as vessels belonging to Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet, which Russia uses to evade Western restrictions on its oil exports.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defenses overnight shot down 605 Ukrainian drones over a number of Russian regions, as well as illegally annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov seas.
Russian drone and glide bomb attacks across Ukraine during the night killed at least three civilians and wounded 22 others, authorities said Thursday, as countries helping Kyiv resist Russia’s invasion scrambled to find more vital air defenses for its fight.
Moscow’s forces have in recent weeks pummeled Ukraine with ballistic missiles that Kyiv officials say only the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system can stop.
Ukraine seeks more interceptor missiles to bolster air defenses, with Zelenskyy saying he had spoken to Nato chief Mark Rutte and Finnish President Alexander Stubb about urgently procuring interceptors from stockpiles.
Zelenskyy said he and Rutte coordinated their efforts regarding countries that have the necessary missiles and the capacity to help.
Rutte said on X that he was discussing with allies how they can continue to get Ukraine the air defenses they urgently need.
Russia appears determined to exhaust Ukraine through sheer weight of numbers in terms of soldiers, armor, and weapons.
Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks that time is on his side, that Western support will fade and that Ukraine’s resistance will eventually collapse under pressure, Western analysts and officials say.
Russia fired four missiles and 101 long-range strike drones at Ukraine from Wednesday into Thursday, Ukraine’s air force said, with air defenses shooting down or jamming 66 drones.
Three people were killed in Balakliia in the northeastern Kharkiv region, according to Vitalii Karabanov, head of the city’s military administration.
In the neighboring Sumy region, Russian glide bombs wounded 12 people, the National Police said.
In the southern Kherson region, a Russian drone struck a bus carrying farmworkers to a field, wounding six people, regional authorities said.
A Russian drone also struck a residential area in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, wounding four people, regional administration head Ivan Fedorov said.
