Soldiers from the First Center of Unmanned Systems launch a deep-strike drone from an undisclosed location in eastern Ukraine.Serhii Korovvayny for NPR hide caption EASTERN UKRAINE — As the sun sets on a vast farm field, soldiers in full body armor pull over on a dirt road and unload what looks like a miniature jet from a truck."Our beautiful drone," one of the soldiers says.This drone, made by Fire Point, a Ukrainian defense technology company, can travel between 800 and 1,200 miles.
Ukraine's military has used drones like these to repeatedly hit oil refineries and depots deep inside Russia, including Moscow and even Siberia.On June 18, Ukraine launched its largest drone offensive yet on Moscow and hit an oil refinery.
Thick black smoke billowed into the sky as residents reported a flurry of "oil rain." People walk in a park as black smoke rises from the area of the Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft's Moscow oil refinery on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow on June 18, 2026.Moscow was fending off a "large-scale" drone attack from Ukraine, with several drones reaching an oil refinery, the city's mayor Sergey Sobyanin said.
AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption The drones have also hit targets in Russian-occupied Ukraine, including the southern peninsula of Crimea, which Russia overran and annexed in 2014.In the last few weeks, Ukrainian drones have struck supply routes for Russian troops as well as railroad bridges, ferry crossings and oil refineries.
"Crimea is being isolated by drones," Ukraine's Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in an interview with a prominent Ukrainian journalist."And in the near future, it looks as though Crimea will become an island."The Ukrainian strike campaign, whic...