Ukraine is increasingly able to exploit critical weaknesses in Russia’s air defense systems, which allows it to carry out deep strikes on the Russian Federation’s vital military and energy infrastructure, according to the latest report published on Monday, April 27, by analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Kyiv Post reports.
Ukrainians hit warships in Crimea PHOTO X
According to ISW’s assessment, Russia’s air defenses are “overstretched”, creating gaps that Ukrainian forces have taken advantage of to extend both the range and intensity of attacks.
On the night of April 25-26, Ukrainian forces struck the Yaroslavl oil refinery, one of Russia’s main fuel processing facilities, causing a fire. The plant has an annual production capacity of approximately 15 million tons and produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Geolocated images confirmed the fires at the site, with open source intelligence analysts estimating that a key processing unit had been hit.
Ukraine has also targeted military resources in occupied Crimea. According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the attacks on Sevastopol resulted in damage to several ships of the Russian Navy, a reconnaissance ship, radar systems, as well as infrastructure elements at the Belbek airfield.
Officials installed by Russia acknowledged the scale of the attack, announcing that dozens of drones had been launched overnight from Ukraine.
According to analysts’ assessment, Ukraine’s campaign of deep attacks has gained momentum since March, with Ukrainian forces carrying out at least 10 attacks on Russian oil and gas infrastructure in recent weeks.
These operations are reaching deeper and deeper into Russian territory – a recent example being an attack in Chelyabinsk – over 1,800 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War conclude that the launch a growing number of Ukrainian drones throughout the vast territory of Russia they stretched air defense capabilities to the maximum, making it difficult to protect all critical targets.
As Ukraine expands its domestic drone production, experts expect strikes to increase in frequency and scale, with Russia’s economic and military capabilities as its preferred targets.
