Until now, the furthest Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian territory hit the Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk regions of Tatarstan. Iranian “Shahed” attack drones, also called “Geran-2” in Russia, are being assembled in the territory of the special economic zone “Alabuga” in Yelabuga.
Previously, a video was published in Russia showing the production of “Shahed” drones in Tatarstan. Already last year, Western media reported that Russia plans to start doing this in the region.
The remains of one Ukrainian drone can also be seen after hitting an oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk.
It could have been the UJ-22 UAV manufactured in Ukraine. Its official range is 800 km. Accordingly, in one direction – 1600 km, Ukrainian media wrote.
There was already a shock in Russia when drones attacked oil factories up to a thousand kilometers from Ukraine, but since Tuesday this limit has been exceeded, a Ukrainian military expert told “World Panorama”.
“There are companies, production plants located more than a thousand kilometers away, and therefore it was believed to be deep in the rear. But we see that it is no longer a deep rear,” Ukrainian military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko said. “The maximum operating distance is not yet known, but this is the next stage in the development of this type of weapon, which seriously began to be developed in Ukraine only in 2022.”
The expert also noted that this aircraft flew more than a thousand kilometers in the territory of Russia.
“It was neither shot down by anti-aircraft artillery nor neutralized by means of electronic warfare. Namely, in this case, Russian air defense demonstrated a complete inability to resist this type of weapon,” he said.
Naval drones have also been effective, which along with other forms of attack in the Black Sea have significantly undermined the capabilities of the Russian fleet.
A third of the ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet have been destroyed or damaged, the Ukrainian Navy has announced. A large number of warships have been evacuated.
Gints Amoliņš: You yourself are from Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea. How much and what impact on the military situation is the fact that Ukraine has destroyed or damaged a third of Russian warships in the Black Sea?
Oleksandr Kovalenko: The Black Sea has become safer, much safer. Now there is a grain corridor in the Black Sea, which is already controlled by Ukraine itself. Russia has no influence on it, it does not have these possibilities (..). Only those ships that have no value to the Russian command remain in Crimea, that is, the oldest Soviet ships or those that provided logistics.
The expert also said that all Russia can do is to use its navy to strike Ukraine with Kalibr cruise missiles. But for some reason they haven’t done that from the ships in almost six months.
The situation on the land front, however, remains difficult, we must focus on defense. There are mainly two reasons, explains the expert. The first is still the lack of ammunition. Second, there is a lack of opportunities to effectively oppose Russian tactical aviation.
According to him, Russia’s next main goals this year will be the occupation of two settlements – Chasivyar near Bakhmut, because it is located on a dominant highland, and Kupyansk, in order to cross the river and try to expand its attacks further into the Kharkiv region.
