Ukrainian drones flew almost 2,000 miles to hit fuel plants in the Russian Arctic

Ukraine’s drones flew nearly 2,000 miles into northwestern Siberia to strike two Russian gas facilities, a record distance for the war, said Ukrainian special forces.

The strikes on Wednesday targeted a major plant in Novy Urengoy, a gas-producing city, and another facility about 60 miles south in the Purovsky district, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, or SSO, said in a statement.

Both are in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a region in the Russian Arctic zone. “Until today, this was considered an absolutely safe rear for the aggressor,” the SSO said, hailing the strikes as Kyiv’s “deepest defeat” of Russia since the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Yamalo-Nenets’ governor, Dmitry Artyukhov, said on Wednesday that a drone attack had caused a fire at an industrial facility. “Most importantly, there are no fatalities or injuries.

The extent and nature of the damage are being determined,” he said in a statement.

The SSO did not provide details on the extent of damage to the Russian plants, which process raw materials and gas condensate, nor did it say which drones were used.

Ukrainian drone manufacturer Fire Point, however, said in a separate statement on Wednesday that its FP-1 one-way drones were involved in the strike on Novy Urengoy. “FP-1 drones covered more than 3,200 km and set a new record for the range of destruction,” the firm said.

The distance covered by the strike goes beyond Fire Point’s typical stated range for the FP-1, a slender, propeller-driven drone shaped like a fixed-wing plane.

While Fire Point typically cites the FP-1’s range as 2,600 km, or 1,615 miles, the manufacturer previously said that an improved, jet-launched version of the drone can travel up to 2,110 miles.

With a 20-foot wingspan and a cruising speed of up to 111 mph, the FP-1 carries an explosive warhead of up to 132 pounds.

Wednesday’s strikes are part of Ukraine’s ongoing campaign to kneecap Russia’s energy industry, a core economic pillar, with long-reaching drone attacks deep in the country.

In July, the SSO carried out a 1,700-mile strike against an oil facility in Omsk, a city in Western Siberia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at the time that the attack involved “upgraded” Fire Point drones.