Ukraine drones hit Crimea fuel depot and Siberian refinery as Russia bombs Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv
Ukrainian long-range drones struck an oil terminal in occupied Crimea and a refinery 2,000km inside Russia, while Russian glide bombs killed at least eight civilians in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Sumy.
Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities
Russian guided bombs struck an apartment block in Kharkiv's Kholodnohirskiy district in the early hours of Saturday, killing at least one person and injuring nine, including a 6-year-old child, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov. Rescue workers later pulled a body from the rubble. A separate drone strike on a civilian car in Kharkiv on Friday evening killed a man and injured the woman driving, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Russian glide bombs killed five people and injured 11 in Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, regional governor Ivan Fedorov reported. Nine strikes destroyed or damaged residential and non-residential buildings, and residents may still be trapped. Near the Russian border, a bomb attack killed one person on the outskirts of Sumy, and in the Kherson region, a drone attack on a village north of Kherson city killed one, according to local officials. Three children were injured by shelling in Poltava.
Zelensky warns of massive attack
In his nightly video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said:
The warning echoed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's earlier statement that "massive coordinated strikes on a regular basis" would follow Ukraine's attack on a Moscow oil refinery for the second time in a week. That June 18 strike, one of the largest drone assaults on Russia of the war, hit a refinery supplying 40% of the Moscow region's fuel and forced evacuations at the country's largest airport.Tonight and in the coming hours, it is especially important to pay close attention to air raid warnings. The Russians have prepared for a massive attack. Please take care of yourselves.
Deep strikes into Russia
Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian company Fire Point had developed new long-range drones with a range exceeding 3,000km, and they were "successfully deployed" against the Tyumen oil refinery in western Siberia, more than 2,000km from Ukraine's border.
Unverified videos showed smoke and flame rising from the Antipinsky refinery. Tyumen governor Alexander Moor claimed emergency services were dealing with "fallen drone debris," a phrasing often used by Russian officials to downplay successful attacks. The refinery processes 7.5 to 9 million tonnes of crude annually.This is effective work.
Crimea fuel depot ablaze
Overnight Saturday, Ukrainian forces struck an oil terminal at Kerch in occupied Crimea and an electrical substation at Bilohorsk, with further attacks reported at Yevpatoria and Sevastopol. The Moscow-appointed governor, Sergey Aksyonov, halted public fuel sales on Sunday, restricting supplies to state-run companies. A subsequent Ukrainian drone attack on a major fuel depot in Crimea on Sunday killed at least four people and injured 28, according to Aksyonov. The timeline of the day's main strikes is shown below.
- Russian drone hits civilian car in Kharkiv, killing one man and injuring a woman driver
- Guided bombs hit Kharkiv apartment block, killing one, injuring nine including a child
- Glide bombs kill five in Zaporizhzhia; bomb kills one near Sumy; drone kills one in Kherson
- Ukrainian drones strike Kerch oil terminal in Crimea and Tyumen refinery in Siberia
- Four killed, 28 injured in Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea fuel depot; public fuel sales restricted
Gaps in Russian air defence
After the June 18 Moscow strike, exiled Russian journalist Ivan Filippov noted growing alarm among pro-Kremlin bloggers that Ukraine had found a gap in Russian defences.
Ukrainian aviation expert Anatoliy Khrapchynskyi attributed the breaching of Moscow's air defence to systemic degradation of Russia's defence architecture and technological evolution of Ukraine's strike capabilities. Military analyst Ruslan Leviev pointed out that Moscow still downed over 90% of the drones, but the sheer volume of the attacks was overwhelming. Ukraine's air force said it shot down 92 of 99 Russian drones launched overnight, while Russia's Defence Ministry claimed it intercepted 187 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones.They don't want the war to stop -- they want a more effective war. But I think they understand perfectly well that these reforms are impossible. So these texts tend to be pessimistic.
