The Orsknefteorgsintez oil refinery, located in Orsk, Orenburg Oblast, was successfully targeted by Ukrainian long-range drones.
Published videos show a Liutyi drone flying over the oil refinery and delivering a strike.
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This strike is different from previous Ukrainian attacks on similar russian targets in two key aspects.
First and foremost, Orsk is located about 1,500 km from the front line. It is beyond the Urals. Secondly, the strike involved a Liutyi drone, one of the most widely used models of Ukrainian long-range weapons.
While drones had previously hit distant russian oil refineries, like Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat in Bashkiria in May 2024 or Bashneft-Novoil in Ufa, those sites are west of the Urals, whereas Orsk is located east of them.
Moreover, large drones based on light aircraft were usually used for such long-range attacks. However the ability of the Liutyi drone to cover more than 1,500 km is a large-scale solution.
It should be noted that two distinctive features of the Liutyi can be seen in the video from Orsk. Notably, the drone lacked landing gear, a design already employed in a successful strike on the Kupol plant in Izhevsk, 1,300 km from Ukraine, where Shahed drones are also assembled.
The second is the black color of the fuselage, which is easy to explain: the drone flew for about 10 hours, crossing the front line and frontline areas at night. A simple rule then applies—the further into russia, the weaker the air defenses.
Read more: Why Shooting Down a $20,000 Drone Can Still Cost $35,000
