Russia and Ukraine on Sunday targeted each other's territory with drone attacks and airstrikes, hitting urban centers and energy facilities, with both sides seeking ways to inflict damage beyond the battlefield.
The Russian military said it shot down about 60 Ukrainian drones over the Krasnodar region in southwestern Russia. Ukraine has increasingly been targeted in recent weeks because the region is home to energy and military facilities that support combat operations.
Local Russian officials said the refinery had been attacked. A Ukrainian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military issues, said Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery and a military airfield in the region. Russian officials did not comment on the reported attack on the airfield.
Ukrainian officials say Russia has attacked northeastern Ukraine, including the city of Kharkiv, killing at least 10 civilians and injuring more than 20 others. Russia has not commented on the attack and could not independently confirm it. Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, has been under attack by Russian missiles in recent months, which military experts say is a Russian tactic aimed at causing panic and forcing residents to evacuate.
The war involved constant attacks on logistics centers and troop concentrations deep behind enemy lines. But it has become increasingly important for Ukraine, which is trying to thwart Russian military operations and provide relief to its forces struggling to stop Russian advances on the ground.
Since the fall, Russia's superiority on the battlefield has allowed it to launch attacks on different parts of its more than 600-mile front to probe and break through Ukraine's defenses. Most recently, it opened a new front near Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, quickly capturing several settlements and forcing the Ukrainian military to redeploy troops there from other battlegrounds.
Currently, Russia is trying to make the most of the situation by breaking through the thin front lines in Ukraine.
Ukraine's General Staff reported more than 80 Russian attacks on Saturday. Many of them occurred in the southeastern region of Donetsk, which Russia annexed in 2022 but does not fully control. In particular, the Ukrainian military announced that it had repelled a major Russian attack by tanks on the Ukrainian stronghold Chasiv Yar, one of Russia's main targets in the Donetsk region.
After months of bloody attacks, Russia has been gradually retaking territory in Ukraine. Pasi Paloinen, an analyst with the Finnish Black Bird Group, which analyzes satellite images and battlefield combat footage, said Russia has lost more territory so far this year than it lost in last summer's offensive against Ukraine. He said he had earned it.
Part of Ukraine's strategy to halt this slow but steady advance is sustained air operations against Russian facilities that supply fuel and other refined petroleum products to tanks, ships, and fighter jets.
On Sunday, six Ukrainian drones attacked a refinery in Slavyansk, Russia's Krasnodar region, forcing the plant to shut down, Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported.
The campaign also appears aimed at undermining Russia's energy industry, which is central to Russia's economy and war efforts. In a report released last week, the US said the attack had “disrupted approximately 14% of Russia's oil refining capacity” and caused domestic gasoline and diesel prices to rise by 20% to 30% by mid-March. Ta. The report covers only the two-month period from late January to late March.
Russia also announced on Sunday that it had intercepted nine Ukrainian missiles headed for Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Russia is turning the peninsula into a military logistics hub for concentrating troops and ammunition on battlefields in the south. It is also used as a launching pad for drone and missile attacks.
