Authors: Dan Pereshuk and Tom Balmforth
KYIV/LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) – From burning oil refineries to a stalled ground offensive, Russia has encountered problems in its war in Ukraine, partly due to Ukraine’s growing military capabilities: the use of medium-range drone attacks.
By targeting Russian air defense systems and logistics dozens of kilometers behind the front lines, Ukraine is disrupting Russia’s battlefield advances and opening the way for long-range strikes on Russian oil and military facilities, two Ukrainian commanders, two drone experts and three military analysts said.
Ukrainian officials have said that in recent months more resources have been devoted to “intermediate strikes,” which typically range between 30 kilometers (19 miles) and 180 kilometers behind the front lines.
This enables Ukraine to hit Russian radars, short- and medium-range air defense systems, communications infrastructure, logistics and large military vehicles at “operational depth,” the sources said.
Robert Brovdy, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Force, said long-range attack drones can now more easily penetrate defenses and attack Russian oil facilities far from the front lines.
“The current role of the centerline strike is decisive,” Brovdy told Reuters in a voice message, referring to strikes up to 2,000 kilometers long.
Defense analysts say such attacks alone will not turn the tide against Russia, but they are having an important impact and the dynamics of the war may be changing.
Over the past few months, long-range drone strikes in Ukraine have caused the most widespread damage to Russian oil infrastructure since Moscow’s 2022 invasion.
Last month, Russia reduced oil production and crude supplies to Europe through Russia’s only remaining oil pipeline were halted due to drone attacks on ports and refineries, Reuters reported.
The attacks have boosted Ukraine’s morale after a winter of Russian attacks on its power network, with Russia’s slowest battlefield advance since 2023.
Expand scale
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the number of “intermediate strikes” in Ukraine had doubled this month compared to March and had increased fourfold since February.
“Cousteau”, the field commander of the 7th Battalion of the 414th Independent Unmanned Systems Brigade in Brovdi, said that Ukraine’s medium-range strike capabilities have been significantly enhanced since the autumn.
“We have increased scale, increased the number of staff and expanded the number of systems in use. There is also greater diversity in the platforms available,” he told Reuters in written comments.
Cousteau said his forces were mainly focused on attacking targets within 100 kilometers of the contact line. He said Russian radar installations and air defense systems such as Buk, Tor and Pantsir were among the highest value targets. Other main targets are large vehicles and logistics.
“The aircraft (drone) itself will usually fly about 150 kilometers from the launch point and then start searching for targets in a designated area,” he said.
Cousteau said the “medium-range strike” drone most commonly used by his unit is the domestically produced Chaklun V, followed by the B-2.
Brovdie said manual control (rather than coordinate-based guidance) allows for greater accuracy and typically costs no more than three drones per confirmed target destruction.
He said his troops had destroyed at least 129 air defense systems in Russian-occupied areas this year. Reuters could not independently verify the figure.
Ukraine has carried out multiple attacks on oil facilities in the Russian Black Sea port city of Tuapse, and Brovdy said on Friday his forces struck the Ryazan refinery, one of Russia’s largest refineries.
The attacks in Ukraine also forced Russia’s fourth-largest refinery NORSI and the Perm refinery, about 1,500 kilometers from the Russia-Ukraine border, to suspend operations.
Extended logistics
Justin Bronk, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, said deep strikes have forced Russia to spread its air defenses further away from the front lines, allowing for more medium-range attacks.
This allows Ukrainian forces to target assets beyond the range of artillery or remotely operated first-person drones, such as ammunition and fuel depots, command points, supply vehicles and other mid-range drone teams.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that in April, Ukrainian forces carried out more than 160 medium-range strikes within a range of 120 to 150 kilometers.
Illia Mashyna, commander of Ukraine’s 431st Independent Unmanned Aerial System Battalion “Brodiash”, said that such attacks hinder Russia’s battlefield operations by lengthening the distance between frontline troops and their supporting units.
“The further you retreat, the more complex the logistics become,” said Mashina, who stressed the importance of careful planning and ongoing coordination to achieve results.
The U.S.-based Institute for War Studies said Russia’s battlefield advances have slowed since October, partly due to medium-range strikes but also due to local fortifications and terrain, particularly in the Donbas region.
The Russian military has also faced communications problems since tech billionaire Elon Musk cracked down on its use of Starlink satellite internet services.
Innovate out of necessity
RUSI’s Bronk said Kiev’s rapid development of medium-range capabilities reflected a gap it needed to fill, with Russia pressuring Ukraine’s outnumbered forces and firepower and successfully exploiting medium-range strikes.
Frequent battlefield use has fueled rapid innovation as Ukraine seeks to bolster its own defense production and reduce its reliance on foreign supplies.
Cousteau said communication between manufacturers and frontline users means feedback is incorporated into the drone system within days.
A technical engineer in the same unit as Kusto (call sign “Symbol”) said that some manufacturers are now offering platforms that are almost completely combat ready without further programming.
“Before, mid-hit was more of a one-time ability,” he said in written comments. “Now it’s a systemic part of the operation.”
Emil Kastehemi of Finland’s Blackbird conflict analysis group said the medium-range attack might not turn the tide against Russia, but represented a challenge that the Russian military would have to adapt to.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the peak of it yet,” he said.
(Writing by Dan Pereshuk; Editing by Timothy Heritage)