Kyiv, Aug 2: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday said Ukrainian forces carried out long-range strikes on Russian military and energy infrastructure, including the Saratov Oil Refinery and the Engels military airbase, as part of efforts to weaken Russia’s military capabilities.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy said the targets were located deep inside Russian territory. He claimed that the Saratov Oil Refinery and the Engels military airbase, situated more than 600 kilometres from the front line, were hit during overnight operations.
He also said Ukrainian forces struck the Lyudinovskaya oil depot tank farm in Russia’s Kaluga region and carried out a precision strike on a facility in the Bryansk region that was allegedly used to store, prepare and launch attack drones.
Zelenskyy said the strikes reflected Ukraine’s expanding long-range capabilities and described them as part of efforts to take the conflict back into Russian territory.
In a separate statement, Zelenskyy said Russian attacks over the past week affected 16 Ukrainian regions. According to him, Russia launched around 1,900 drones, nearly 1,600 aerial bombs and 144 missiles, including ballistic missiles.
He said the Sumy region came under aerial bombardment, while a drone strike in Brovary killed one person and injured six others. He added that Kharkiv and surrounding areas remained under sustained attacks, with overnight strikes also reported in the Odesa, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions.
Zelenskyy claimed that more than 1,500 sites, including hundreds of residential buildings, were damaged during the attacks.
Calling for stronger international action, Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s partners to expand sanctions against Russia, saying many companies involved in producing drones, missiles and guided bombs had not yet been targeted.
The developments come a day after Zelenskyy appealed to Western allies to provide additional Patriot air defence interceptors following a large-scale Russian aerial attack involving 35 missiles and nearly 190 drones.
According to Zelenskyy, the strikes mainly targeted Kyiv and nearby areas, including Brovary and Vyshneve, leaving at least nine people dead and 40 others injured in the Kyiv region.
He urged the United States and European countries to approve additional military assistance, saying anti-ballistic missile systems were needed to protect civilians. Zelenskyy also warned that Russia was increasing the use of jet-powered Shahed drones and called for tighter sanctions on individuals and entities linked to Russia’s missile production and oil refining sectors.