Ukraine struck several targets in the Russian heartland on Tuesday in what it said was its “most massive” attack of the war so far.
Ammunition depots and chemical plants were hit in several regions, some of which were hundreds of kilometers from the border, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Sources at Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency told the BBC the nighttime attack was a “painful blow” to Russia’s ability to wage war.
Russia said it had shot down Atacms missiles supplied by the United States as well as British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles, and pledged to respond to the attack.
At least nine airports in central and western Russia have temporarily halted traffic, while strikes have led to the closure of schools in the Saratov region in the southwest of the country.
Strikes in the Bryansk border region caused explosions at a refinery, munitions depots and a chemical plant meant to produce gunpowder and explosives, a Ukrainian security source told the BBC.
But kyiv also struck much deeper into the country, with the military saying it hit targets up to 1,100 km (700 miles) from the border.
In the western Saratov region, authorities reported a “massive” drone attack.
Two industrial facilities in the cities of Engels and Saratov were damaged, regional governor Roman Busargin wrote on Telegram.
Students received online learning Tuesday after local schools closed.
Last week, kyiv announced it had struck an oil storage facility in Engels, sparking days-long efforts to fight the fire and Busargin declaring a state of emergency.
Officials in the western Tula region also reported a nighttime attack, in which Russian regional governor Dmitry Milyaev said air defenses shot down 16 drones.
There were no casualties, he said, although falling debris damaged cars and buildings.
Elsewhere, a gas storage site near Kazan was hit in a drone attack in the southwestern region of Tatarstan, local officials said, without reporting any casualties.
Ukraine said Russia also launched dozens of drones across Ukraine overnight, with several air raid alerts in and around kyiv.
By the count, all but one were shot down or lost.
Some were dummy drones, or decoys, used to try to overwhelm air defenses.
As air raid alarms sounded over kyiv last night, a drone flew back and forth for some time, its movements tracked on various Telegram groups.
One user joked that it was a “great idea” to send air force troops – who operate air defense systems – to the front line as infantry.
Today, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper cited a source as saying that more than 5,000 troops were to be transferred from the air force to the ground forces, on the orders of General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
The Air Force’s acting commander responded by insisting that “objectively hard to replace” specialists would not be displaced, particularly those trained in foreign-supplied weapons and equipment. This likely includes F16 aircraft and Patriot air defense systems.
The General Staff also commented, conceding that the situation on the front line “is not easy” with a shortage of infantry “in many regions”.
“The decision to strengthen ground brigades on the front line at the expense of servicemen of other types and branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is a forced measure of the military leadership to strengthen our defense,” the statement said.
According to Ukraine, it was a fiery night in Russia.
Videos posted online appear to confirm at least some of these claims – although the Defense Ministry in Moscow says American and British-made missiles were shot down over Bryansk and the Black Sea.
The BBC asked Ukraine’s General Staff to comment on Russian claims that they shot down 14 of these Western-made missiles overnight.
A spokesman, Bohdan Senyk, said his office had “no knowledge of the information you are requesting.”
Ukraine is trying to repel, by all means, Russian military advances on the ground, one week before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Authorities in kyiv have come under pressure from the US administration to lower the conscription age and allow it to send more soldiers to the front lines.
Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, recently told ABC News that Ukraine should address its troop shortage and that it needs to be “all in for democracy” if it wants the U.S. are “all in” for Ukraine.
These remarks were harsh, given the immense price Ukraine has already paid to defend itself and NATO’s eastern flank, and they appeared to herald a change in tone from Washington as Trump returns to the House White.
On Tuesday in kyiv, Zelensky reaffirmed that there was no point in lowering the conscription age from 25 to 18 when the Ukrainian troops already deployed lack weapons.
“We have more than 100 brigades on the battlefield, and each of them needs to be resupplied and equipped daily,” Zelensky said.
kyiv often claims its allies are slow to send promised weapons, including air defense systems and missiles.
Trump said he was prepares to meet Vladimir Putin upon his return to the White House – and make ending the war in Ukraine a priority.
He did not say how he planned to proceed.
