KYIV, UKRAINE – Ukraine’s military announced a significant escalation in its long-range campaign on Monday, confirming that its drones successfully struck a major Russian ammunition plant, a key oil terminal, and an important weapons depot deep behind the front lines. The attacks are aimed at disrupting Moscow’s military logistics and supply chain.
The Ukrainian General Staff stated that overnight strikes hit the Sverdlov ammunition plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region of western Russia, causing multiple explosions and a fire. The plant is crucial to the Russian war effort, reportedly supplying forces with aviation and artillery ordnance, aviation bombs, and anti-aircraft and anti-tank munitions.
In addition to the strike on the Sverdlov plant, Ukrainian drones also targeted and hit an oil terminal in the annexed Crimean Peninsula, which resulted in a blaze. A separate strike targeted an ammunition depot belonging to Russia’s 18th Combined Arms Army in Crimea.
Russian authorities acknowledged the scale of the operation, confirming a major Ukrainian drone attack that spanned over 14 Russian regions, as well as the annexed Crimean Peninsula and areas around the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
While Russian defense officials claimed to have shot down 251 Ukrainian drones across the vast territory, the sheer breadth of the coordinated attack underscores Ukraine’s growing capability to strike strategic Russian military and industrial infrastructure far from the border. The strike campaign is a clear effort by Kyiv to put increasing pressure on President Vladimir Putin’s military and the Russian economy.
