Drones Hit Russian Oil Refineries as Moscow Shores Up Front Line
By Matthew Luxmoore May 31, 2023 6:47 am ET KYIV, Ukraine—Drones struck two oil refineries in southern Russia on Wednesday, as Western officials said Moscow was moving to shore up defenses in border areas and along the 900-mile front with Ukraine ahead of a planned counteroffensive by Kyiv. Authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region said the Ilyinsky oil refinery was largely unaffected by a suspected drone attack, but a blaze at the Afipsky refinery engulfed over 1,000 square feet of territory likely as a result of a drone, according to regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev, who said no one had been injured. The frequency of drone attacks on Russian infrastructure and military targe
KYIV, Ukraine—Drones struck two oil refineries in southern Russia on Wednesday, as Western officials said Moscow was moving to shore up defenses in border areas and along the 900-mile front with Ukraine ahead of a planned counteroffensive by Kyiv.
Authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region said the Ilyinsky oil refinery was largely unaffected by a suspected drone attack, but a blaze at the Afipsky refinery engulfed over 1,000 square feet of territory likely as a result of a drone, according to regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev, who said no one had been injured.
The frequency of drone attacks on Russian infrastructure and military targets far beyond the front line has increased in recent weeks. Moscow has mostly blamed Ukraine, and military analysts have described the assaults as part of so-called shaping operations, setting the stage for a wider counteroffensive by Kyiv’s forces.
The government in Kyiv has denied direct involvement in any such operations.
The M1 Abrams tank is one of the most powerful ground weapons in the U.S. arsenal, but the tank’s complicated technology and turbine engine could pose logistical challenges for Ukrainian forces. Photo: Inquam Photos/Reuters
On Tuesday, a wave of drones struck residential buildings in Moscow for the first time since the war in Ukraine began, with several downed in a neighborhood near one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences.
Afterward, Putin praised the Russian capital’s air defenses though added that there was room for improvement. Ukrainian officials denied involvement in the strikes but predicted more of them.
Western officials say such attacks come as Russia loses the initiative in the conflict, with Moscow increasingly reacting to Ukrainian offensives that are setting the agenda on the battlefield.
Russia has in recent weeks sought to bolster defensive lines across the front in Ukraine’s east and south as Kyiv says it is completing preparations for its offensive, which is expected to involve several brigades with soldiers trained in the West and using modern equipment supplied by Ukraine’s allies.
Ukraine’s assaults on Russia are setting the stage for a wider counteroffensive by Kyiv’s forces, military analysts say.
Photo: Lev Radin/Zuma Press
As Moscow struggles to consolidate control over Bakhmut—the eastern Ukrainian city it captured earlier this month in its first significant victory since last summer—Russia has also been launching almost nightly drone-and-missile attacks against Ukrainian cities to deplete Kyiv’s air defenses and weaken its capacity to defend its citizens.
But Western officials say the campaign has been unsuccessful, and Russia’s military resources are increasingly being used to shore up border areas in Belgorod, Bryansk and other regions that have been targeted by drone attacks and an incursion by Ukrainian-backed troops earlier this month.
“Since the start of May 2023, Russia has increasingly ceded the initiative in the conflict and is reacting to Ukrainian action rather than actively progressing towards its own war aims,” the U.K.’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
A worker clears debris following a drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday.
Photo: sergey dolzhenko/Shutterstock
Meanwhile, in a video address on Tuesday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was pushing for extra support for its own air defenses from its Western allies. He said he had spoken to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Zelensky cited “common decisions” that were being reached ahead of coming international summits, after Ukrainian officials and European diplomats said Kyiv and its allies were planning a summit of global leaders that would exclude Russia and be aimed at garnering support for Kyiv’s terms for ending the war.
President Biden and other top leaders from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would be invited for the meeting, which Western diplomats hope can take place shortly before NATO’s annual summit that starts July 11. That gathering, in Vilnius, Lithuania, will focus on military support for Ukraine and Kyiv’s future relationship with the organization.
Write to Matthew Luxmoore at [email protected]
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