Ukraine attacks Russia with record number of drones – Moscow, Belgorod and Kaluga affected

In the western Russian city of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine directly, a pipe factory belonging to the majority state-owned Russian energy company Gazprom reportedly caught fire. The acting governor of the region, Alexander Shushayev, wrote of a rocket attack following which a fire broke out in an unspecified infrastructure facility.

According to Governor Shushayev, one person was killed by the rocket fire in the village of Belovskoye in the Belgorod region. Ukrainian forces had attacked Belgorod and surrounding districts with several rockets.

Southwest of Moscow, a fire broke out at an industrial facility in Kaluga Oblast following drone strikes. Governor Vladislav Shapsha stated that six Ukrainian drones had been deployed against the area. According to media reports, the facility is an oil installation. There were no fatalities or injuries, Shapsha said.

The Ukrainian general staff claimed it had attacked, in addition to industrial facilities in Kaluga, weapons factories in the Bryansk region. Ukrainian drone commander Robert Browdi said via Telegram that eight tankers of the so-called Russian shadow fleet had been attacked with drones in the Sea of Azov. Two shadow-fleet vessels had been hit, as well as a cargo ship and a ferry.

Background: Ukrainian drone offensive

According to the Kremlin, Ukraine attacked 17 Russian regions with more than 450 drones. Damage was reported in, among others, the border region of Belgorod and the industrial area of Kaluga southwest of Moscow. Ukraine has in recent months intensified its drone attacks on targets inside Russia far behind the front lines.

The Ukrainian drone strike followed heavy Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities on the night of Monday. The Ukrainian attacks came after Russian strikes in Ukraine killed at least 22 people on Monday. In the capital Kyiv alone, 15 people were killed, according to authorities.

Russian attacks on Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of dozens of injured and repeated his demand to NATO for more air defense. Kyiv can intercept ballistic missiles only with the help of Western air defense systems, specifically the US Patriot missile system. Zelensky also said he hoped the NATO summit would not produce empty words.

NATO summit in Ankara

The attacks on the night of Tuesday occurred shortly before the start of the NATO summit in Ankara. Ukraine urgently needs more air defense. We will discuss this this week in Ankara at the NATO summit, wrote European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte likewise called for more support for Ukraine ahead of the summit.

And let me be very clear: all alliance partners must contribute their share so that our support for Ukraine continues to flow, because the security of Ukraine is closely tied to our own, Rutte said. European allies and Canada already invest roughly four percent of their gross domestic product in defense.

At the summit in Turkey, according to current information, a framework agreement on additional billions in aid for Ukraine is to be finalized. The planned NATO funding amounts to at least 70 billion euros per year for two years, a total of 140 billion euros, for military equipment, support, and training. In addition, an EU aid package is to supply Ukraine with around 60 billion euros for defense-related spending by the end of 2027. After factoring in the EU package, NATO states would need to contribute around 80 billion euros from national budgets.

US President Trump announced that he would speak with Russian President Putin in the near future. Trump said an agreement to end the war in Ukraine is closer than many think. Pressure on Russia will be increased further until the bloodshed ends, said von der Leyen.

Effects on energy supply

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called in his country for a new consensus on the question of aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is invited to the meeting. Zelensky had stated that he expects concrete commitments from the summit rather than empty words.

Ukraine attacked Russia with hundreds of drones during the night, many of them heading toward Moscow. In several Russian regions, gasoline and diesel have become scarce following the drone strikes on refineries, with gas stations rationing fuel.

The Ukrainian armed forces also claimed to have attacked an industrial facility in Omsk on Monday, located more than 2,400 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory. One of the facilities hit was Kremniy El, a manufacturer of microelectronics and supplier to the Russian military, the Ukrainian General Staff said via Telegram. The Omsk refinery is the largest in Russia, with a processing capacity of more than 20 million tons per year.

Military economist Keupp said Ukraine always attacks Russia in waves. The aim is to overload Russian air defenses and maximize the effect of the strikes, he said.

If Patriot missiles are gathering dust in allied warehouses, it only encourages Russia to continue its war against residential buildings, Zelensky wrote. The debate over additional air defense systems is therefore likely to be one of the central topics of the NATO summit in Ankara.