Ukraine says it hit oil refinery and military industrial facility deep inside Russia as fighting continues
KYIV, Ukraine, July 1 Russian overnight attacks killed at least three people and injured more than a dozen others in southeastern Ukraine on Wednesday, while Kyiv said it had carried out fresh long-range drone strikes targeting an oil refinery and a strategic military industrial facility deep inside Russian territory.
Ukrainian officials said Russia launched drone attacks on the Dnipropetrovsk region early Wednesday, damaging five petrol stations and killing a woman. Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said emergency services were responding to the attacks as authorities assessed the full extent of the damage.
In neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region, two people were killed in a separate Russian strike late Tuesday, according to Ukrainian media reports, bringing the death toll from the latest wave of attacks to three.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had struck an oil refinery in Ufa, located more than 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from the front line in Russia’s Bashkortostan region. He also said Ukrainian forces targeted what he described as a strategic facility belonging to Russia’s military-industrial complex in the Penza region.
“This is an entirely just response to everything Russia is doing against us. Peace is needed, and this is exactly what Russia’s leadership must realize,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
The latest strikes are part of Ukraine’s expanding long range drone campaign, which has increasingly targeted Russian energy infrastructure and military facilities far from the battlefield as Moscow’s full scale invasion approaches four and a half years.
A day earlier, Russia said its air defences intercepted 419 Ukrainian drones across the country, including over the Moscow region. Russian authorities also reported that a six month old child was killed during the attacks.
As the conflict continues, Ukraine is also strengthening its military capabilities with support from Western allies. On Tuesday, Kyiv signed a contract with Sweden for the acquisition of 16 used Gripen E fighter jets, according to aircraft manufacturer Saab. The deal is valued at 24.6 billion Swedish kronor (approximately $2.53 billion).
Zelenskyy said the aircraft are expected to be transferred to the Ukrainian Air Force at the beginning of 2027 under an agreement reached with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
Despite continued diplomatic efforts, prospects for a negotiated settlement remain uncertain. Earlier this week, the Kremlin reiterated that Russia’s position on ending the war remains unchanged from 2024. President Vladimir Putin said over the weekend that Moscow would continue pursuing full control of the four Ukrainian regions it claimed to annex in 2022 Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia rejecting what he described as a new Ukrainian proposal aimed at reducing the intensity of the fighting.
The latest exchanges underscore the continuing escalation of the conflict, with both Russia and Ukraine intensifying long-range attacks while maintaining opposing positions on conditions for any future peace agreement.
Source: Aljazeera
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