Ukraine’s military said on Thursday that it had struck two more Russian oil depots, pressing ahead with a campaign of attacks against a sector vital for Moscow’s war effort.
The strikes coincide with accelerated lobbying by Ukraine’s political leaders for permission to use weapons supplied by allies in NATO to strike targets deep inside Russia, as Kyiv seeks to bring the pain and hardship of war home to Russia.
The Ukrainian military said it had caused a fire on Wednesday at the Atlas oil depot in the Rostov region, which borders eastern Ukraine. The governor of the region, Vasily Golubev, reported a fire at an oil depot and said that four drones had been shot down.
Ukraine also struck an oil depot in Russia’s Kirov region, which is roughly 800 miles from the Ukrainian border, northeast of Moscow; and an artillery depot in Voronezh region, which borders Ukraine, the general staff said.
The governor of Kirov region, Aleksandr Sokolov, said in a post on Telegram that an oil facility had been set on fire on Wednesday. Two drones were shot down, while three others crashed, he said. The governor of Voronezh region, Aleksandr Gusev, also reported a drone attack, but said in a post on Telegram that no damage was caused.
The Ukrainian claims could not be independently confirmed.
For months, Ukraine has conducted attacks using exploding drones against Russian infrastructure, in particular oil facilities, hoping to slow an offensive by Moscow’s forces. Russia has nevertheless advanced toward the city of Pokrovsk, which is an important transport and logistics hub in eastern Ukraine.
In Kyiv, explosions from a Russian drone attack rattled buildings overnight, the third time this week that Moscow had launched an aerial attack against the Ukrainian capital. Ukraine’s air force said it had shot down 60 drones and two missiles, but the attack was smaller than on Monday, when strikes hit many regions.
Moscow’s aerial campaign, which has targeted Ukraine’s power grid, aims to cripple the country’s ability to stave off Russia’s full-scale invasion and deepen the hardships of war for Ukrainian civilians. But the government in Kyiv has attempted a riposte with its own series of attacks, including a surprise offensive over the border into Russia earlier this month.
A member of Ukraine’s Parliament said in June that the armed forces had used a rocket system supplied by the United States to hit a military facility in Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, and on Tuesday President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the country’s allies from NATO to give his country more weapons and greater latitude to use them against Russia itself.
Ukraine needs air defenses to protect critical infrastructure inside the country, he said in a speech overnight, but he also said that true unity with NATO partners would mean permission to do long-range strikes.
“We continue to insist that their determination now — lifting the restrictions on long-range strikes for Ukraine now — will help us to end the war as soon as possible,” he said. Earlier this week, the defense minister, Rustem Umerov, said Ukraine wanted to be able to strike logistics points and military airfields.
Russia has threatened a grave response to any attacks on its soil with Western weapons. Some of Ukraine’s allies have argued that their use risked a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia, a nuclear-armed nation. So far that grave response has not materialized.
Earlier this summer, the Biden administration granted permission for Ukraine to fire American weapons into Russia. But it said the weapons could only be used in Russian territory near northeastern Ukraine and for defensive purposes.
Diplomatic outreach has been a critical component of the Ukrainian government’s response to Russia’s invasion and on Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
Mr. Zelensky joined other international leaders in expressing strong support for Israel after a deadly attack led by Hamas on Oct. 7, but the two men had not spoken for nearly a year, according to a report by Kan, the Israeli public broadcaster.
They discussed the situation in the Middle East and the recent Russian attacks on Ukraine as well as other topics, the report said.
Read More: Ukraine Says It Struck at 2 Oil Depots Inside Russia
