"To bring war to Russia." What is the meaning of the mass attack of Ukrainian drones on Russian regions

Over the past day, at least five regions of Russia have been attacked by drones. The sky for civil aviation was temporarily closed over Petersburg and fighters were lifted into the air-according to the Ministry of Defense, due to sudden teachings. "Mediazona" tried to figure out what all this means.

On the morning of February 28, it became known about explosions and fire on the territory of the Rosneft oil depot in Tuapse. Local authorities claimed that we are talking about a fire in an economic structure. Shot , citing a source, wrote that two drones filled with explosives exploded a hundred meters from the oil storage. No one was injured. “The explosion was a little damaged by the boiler room, next to the two funnels were found about one and a half meters deep,” SHOT added.

Later, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Ukrainian troops tried to attack the “Civil Infrastructure Objects” in the Krasnodar Territory and Adygea with drones. “UAVs of the RF Armed Forces were suppressed. Both drones lost control and deviated from the flight path. One UAV fell in the field, the other drone, deviating from the trajectory, did not harm the attacking object of civil infrastructure, ”the report said .

The head of Adygea Murat Kumpilov said that a aircraft fell in the village of New Giaginsky District. “The most important thing is that there are no victims and victims. There is a slight destruction of the economic construction of the livestock farm, ”he wrote .

Shot , citing a source, said that it could be Soviet -made UAVs - “Swift” or “Flight”. At the site of the fall of the device, two funnels were found: “The diameter of the funnels is about two meters, and the depth - about half a meter, metal fragments are scattered nearby.”

On the morning of February 27, it was reported that the three Drana-Kamikadze attacked an object in the Bryansk region, near the border with Ukraine. This was told without specifying the source Baza and Astra . According to BAZA , the tower was attacked; Astra clarified that we are talking about a tower in the Sevsky district, in which there was a technical observation point of the FSB border control. Governor Alexander Bogomazov did not mention this attack, but announced another incident: “Today, the APU UPS is shot down over the Surazh district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. There are no victims and destruction. ”

On the evening of February 27, the Governor of the Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov said that the fragments of three drones were found in Belgorod. “There are no victims, but there are destruction: the windows are knocked out somewhere, cars are damaged somewhere,” he wrote . The mayor of Belgorod Valentin Demidov, who arrived at the scene, said that one "BPP flew out the window of the apartment." In addition, Mash wrote that the Russian military also shot down the Ukrainian drone, which probably flew towards the electric substation.

The American edition of The War Zone called the drones who attacked Belgorod, "a new type of drone-kamikadze." “Images of drones suggest that these could be the apparatus of Ukrainian troops that partially turned into a weapon by adding the British explosive charges,” the note says .

On the afternoon of February 28, the drone fell near the village of Gubastovo in the city district of Kolomna near Moscow. This was announced by the governor of the region Andrei Vorobyov. “The goal, probably, was an object of civil infrastructure, it was not injured. There are no victims and destruction on Earth, ”he wrote. Near the place of the fall there is a gas compressor station "Voskresensk" owned by Gazprom. The station management assured that "it did not affect the work [this]."

Earlier, Baza wrote that it was UJ-22 Airborne drone, which is produced by Ukrot. “Our source reports that, probably, the drone sharply lost its height (perhaps the fuel ended), caught on the trees and damaged the wing, and therefore fell,” SHOT added.

The priority goal of the mass attack of drones is psychological pressure, said military analyst Kirill Mikhailov. “[The Commander -in -Chief of the Armed Forces] Zaluzhny in his article in September said that there was a certain imbalance, that Russians can use their long -range fire destruction throughout Ukraine (with amendments, of course, to strengthen Ukrainian air defense), and Ukraine cannot beat where it wants,” he said in a conversation with the “mediazonaya”. -This was said in the sense that the West should supply something more long-range and let Ukraine beat the territory of Russia, but, as we see, this has not happened. Therefore, Ukrainians are trying to develop their own capabilities in one way or another with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles. ”

According to the analyst, such an attack could be associated with the desire of the Ukrainian authorities to "bring war to Russia, because for most Russians, the war is still taking place somewhere there." He also assumes that the attack could be timed to the anniversary of the Russian invasion, but lingered due to some problems.

In addition to the psychological effect, there is also a strategic meaning in such actions: the appearance of Ukrainian drones in the rear forces Russian troops to “stretch their own air defense systems,” says Mikhailov. “Each“ carapace ”, which is located on the roof of the Ministry of Defense, is not at the front and will not be engaged in knocking down Ukrainian drones or some missiles,” the researcher notes.

Probably, the most high -profile event of the day was the temporary closure of the sky over St. Petersburg, but it is unclear whether this is related to the attack of drones in other regions. The media wrote that the decision of the authorities was associated with an unknown flying object recorded 160-200 kilometers from the city. Baza claimed that fighters were lifted into the sky. After about an hour, the planes again began to be allowed into the airspace over St. Petersburg.

The Ministry of Defense explained these events by training for the air defense forces "in interaction with the civilian air traffic controls." “In the practical part of the training, fighters were involved in the composition of the duty officers of the Air Defense Forces of the Western Military District, which have taken out to work out the issues of interception and identifying the conditional purpose of the offender,” the department added .

Military analyst Kirill Mikhailov believes that the Russian authorities will remain silent about what really happened. “Of course, such sudden teachings look quite strange, and only in one settlement, which there were not before,” Mikhailov notes. - So, perhaps, yes, indeed, they tried to use another drone. But if so, then it is somehow very far from the Ukrainian border. Ukrainian drones did not previously demonstrate such opportunities. Of course, the Russian authorities will not tell anything, because to admit that Ukrainian drones fly in the Leningrad Region - this is, as it were, somewhat beats in prestige. ”

Editor: Maria Klimova