Minister confirms Ukraine hit 'a target' near St Peterburg with homegrown drone
Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin said Ukraine hit a target near St. Petersburg on Jan. 18 using a drone of Ukrainian production that flew 1,250 kilometers.
His confirmation came the same day when Ukrainska Pravda and several other Ukrainian media outlets reported, citing an intelligence source, that the attack was a military intelligence operation with the involvement of "modern Ukrainian assets" and targeted an oil depot near St. Petersburg.
"We are able to produce something that flies and costs $350 per item, something that flew to St. Petersburg this night. It’s produced in Ukraine. So we hit the target that night. This thing flew exactly 1,250 kilometers," Kamyshin said at a panel discussion of the Deciding Your Tomorrow project in Davos, Switzerland.
Media’s source claimed the drone strike demonstrated that "military facilities in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast are within reach of Ukrainian forces." According to the minister, Ukraine "is rebuilding its arsenal" and "can do more."
"I‘m sure that asymmetrical war will demand more things like drones. I'm sure we will see more and more things happening this year," he said.
While Ukraine aims to localize arms production in 2024, Kamyshin noted the country is "quite good" already at building 155mm self-propelled artillery systems.
Earlier in January, several drones reportedly struck an oil depot and energy provider in Russia's Oryol Oblast, and explosions were reported at a railway track by an oil depot on the outskirts of Nizhny Tagil, a city near the Urals.
Francis Farrell
