Ukraine Says Drones Hit Ryazan Refinery as Russia Claims Donetsk Gain

Ukraine said its forces conducted a series of long-range drone attacks inside Russia, striking the Ryazan oil refinery about 180 kilometres southeast of Moscow, an oil storage depot in the adjacent Voronezh region, the Primorsko-Akhtarsk airfield used for drone launches, and an electronics factory in Penza. The Unmanned Systems Forces reported a fire at the Ryazan plant, while the SBU intelligence agency claimed responsibility for the airfield and factory strikes. Kyiv framed the operation as retaliation for recent deadly Russian attacks. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences downed 338 Ukrainian drones overnight and did not immediately confirm damage at the targeted sites. In its daily battlefield update, the ministry also announced the capture of Oleksandro-Kalynove, a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, asserting continued territorial gains in an area where Moscow now claims to control nearly one-fifth of the country. Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 45 of 53 Russian drones launched at its territory during the same period. The competing claims could not be independently verified, but they underscore an intensifying cycle of cross-border drone warfare and incremental ground advances more than three years into the conflict.