A map published by an online Russian publication shows that Ukraine's drone strikes are reaching deeper inside Russia.
Analysis by Verstka, an independent Russian news outlet that was founded shortly after the Ukraine war began, shows that the latest drone attacks on Russian soil have widened the area of the country in Ukraine's firing range to 1.045 million square kilometers.
Russia has been hit with waves of drone strikes since President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with some attacks reaching Moscow. Many strikes have targeted ammunition depots and warehouses. Ukraine rarely claims responsibility for attacks on Russian soil, but the Kremlin has accused Kyiv of trying to carry out terrorist attacks using drones.
Verstka cited a Thursday drone strike on a metallurgical factory belonging to steelmaker Severstal in the city of Cherepovets, which is in Russia's Vologda region.
"In the Vologda region at the Severstal enterprise this morning there was an incident in the area of the blast furnace which was struck by a drone of unidentified affiliation. The main thing is there are no casualties," said Georgy Filimonov, the acting governor of Vologda, in a statement.
"In addition, the operation of the furnace was not disrupted and the enterprise is functioning in normal mode," he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Filimonov had described the attack as a "technological incident," without elaborating.
Verstka reported that the attack was one of the "most distant targets" from Ukraine's front lines that have been attacked on Russian soil since the war began.
"The attack on the enterprise in Cherepovets expanded Russia's potentially vulnerable territory to attacks by the Ukrainian army by 45 thousand square kilometers," the news outlet said. "Now it is about 1,045,000 square kilometers. It contains six million-plus cities, including two federal cities—Moscow and St. Petersburg."
Verstka added: "Previously, in the northeastern direction, drones flew to St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl, where the targets were the Nevsky Mazut plant and the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery."
On Wednesday, authorities in three Russian regions—Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk—announced an overnight drone attack. In addition, a massive explosion rocked a combined heat and power plant in the city of Shagonar in southern Siberia, on Wednesday morning.
Ukraine has also ramped up attacks on Russian oil hubs and refineries in recent weeks, forcing Moscow to approve a temporary ban on the export of gasoline last month.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
