In recent days, Ukraine has carried out a series of drone attacks inside Russia, including one of the longest-range attacks of the war, targeting radar stations used, at least in part, as early surveillance systems. nuclear alert for Moscow.
On Monday, Ukraine attacked a radar station near the border with Kazakhstan that was more than 1,100 miles away, a Ukrainian intelligence official said. Ukrainian experts said the facility was used to detect missile threats from Asia.
On Tuesday morning, the governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region reported that a Ukrainian drone was shot down in the sky over the city of Armavir, which is home to two radar stations. Ukraine reported no new attacks that day.
Ukraine has used its own drones and missiles to carry out these attacks, but they come as officials in kyiv make urgent appeals to the United States to allow them to fire powerful American-made weapons at Russia. The Biden administration has resisted those calls for fear of being drawn into a broader war, although it may be close to modifying that position.
The attacks on radar systems also have US officials concerned about escalation, according to a senior Biden administration official. The administration this week conveyed its concerns to Ukraine over kyiv’s recent drone and missile attacks on three nuclear early warning radar stations inside Russia in the past two weeks, the official said.
By striking deeper into Russia, analysts said, Ukraine hopes to force Russia to extend its air defense systems deep into the country so that Moscow cannot mass its defensive weapons near the border. In this sense, military experts say, the attacks have a military purpose even if radar systems are not used in war.
In Monday’s attack, Ukraine targeted a radar station in a region around Orsk with a long-range drone made in Ukraine and launched from inside the country, an official with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
Satellite images verified by The New York Times showed damage to the radar station on Monday that had not been there the day before. The images show damage consisting of burn marks, including in the center of the radar system itself. It was not possible to determine from the images what had hit the facility.
Russian media reported an attack on a military facility in the region where the radar station is located, but did not specify exactly what was hit. The drone was launched from Ukrainian territory and produced inside Ukraine by the main military intelligence agency, the official said.
In Tuesday’s attack, a Telegram message posted by the governor’s office said air defense forces destroyed an unmanned aerial vehicle over Armavir. He said there were no casualties or damage.
The extent of the destruction caused by Monday’s drone strike is unknown. Defense Express, an open-source Ukrainian military analysis group, said the radar system was designed to warn against missiles from southern and eastern Russia, such as those flying from China or India.
The attack followed a pattern of successful Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia, even as the Ukrainian military has been fending off advances in the ground war in the country’s southeast.
Ukraine has created domestically produced weapons for long-range strikes and is increasing production of these weapons. In the first months of this year, about 200,000 drones were produced in Ukraine, compared to 60,000 last year, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian army.
However, drones cannot change the situation along the front line, where Russia has an advantage in artillery and missiles and has been advancing at multiple points. That is why Ukraine has been asking the United States and its allies for permission to introduce powerful Western weapons into Russia.
kyiv uses Western weapons to attack Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine, including Crimea.