Kyiv [Ukraine], August 16 (ANI): Ukraine on Saturday launched a series of successful long-range operations targeting key Russian aerospace, military, and energy infrastructure hundreds of kilometers behind the border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the development in a post on X, revealing that the forces deployed long-range “Flamingo” missiles to strike the Progress Rocket Space Center in Russia’s Samara region, a major Roscosmos enterprise involved in electronics production.
“Today, there are new significant results from our deep strikes. In Russia’s Samara region, one of the key enterprises within Roscosmos – the Progress Center, which was involved, among other things, in electronics production – was hit. Flamingo missiles were used. A good achievement. The distance from our border is about 900 kilometers,” he wrote.
He noted that Ukraine’s long-range actions also struck the Savasleyka airbase and inflicted intentional damage on an oil facility in Ust-Luga.
“Our long-range sanctions also reached the Savasleyka airbase, where the carriers of Russian missiles that strike our cities and villages are based – about 700 kilometers from Ukraine. We also have confirmation of the damage we were aiming to inflict at an oil facility in Ust-Luga – more than 800 kilometers from our border,” he added.
https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2088547091471614397
Further, emphasising Ukraine’s broader strategy, Zelenskyy described the deep-strike campaign as a “plan of long-range sanctions” aimed at systematically dismantling Moscow’s war potential and forcing a shift in Russian public opinion.
“The long-range sanctions plan is being implemented, and there are more and more of our mid-range strikes as well. In fact, we have succeeded in blocking off Russia’s south. Our sanctions against Russian oil refineries and other facilities in Russia’s oil sector, our mid-range strikes against Russian military logistics, and our operation in the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov – all of this is working to limit Russia’s war potential,” Zelenskyy said in a video address shared on X.
Announcing new domestic sanctions, Zelenskyy urged international partners to expand global sanctions against Russia’s defense industry, financial networks, and trade intermediaries, warning that many war-supporting enterprises currently remain unsanctioned.
“Today, there is a Ukrainian sanctions package targeting companies and vessels that are transporting grain and other goods stolen from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. We are preparing new sanctions packages against Russia’s war industry, financial chains, and intermediaries. Unfortunately, a significant number of Russian enterprises working for the war are still not under international sanctions, and this must be corrected during August and September. We will raise this with leaders at all working levels,” he added.
Addressing Ukraine’s long-term defense requirements, the President pledged to continue working with allies to secure air defense systems, specifically anti-ballistic capabilities and Patriot batteries, while expanding domestic arms production.
“All of this will happen. It is not easy, but all of this will happen. Throughout the war, we have already spoken many times about weapons, capabilities, and equipment that we were initially told were supposedly impossible for us to obtain. Then we heard that Ukrainians supposedly would not be able to do it because it would take decades to become capable of it. F-16s, the production of millions of drones a year, specialized missile technologies – we did it,” Zelenskyy stated.
Meanwhile, Russia stated that three people were injured as hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles launched a sustained overnight barrage targeting the Moscow region, DW reported.
According to DW, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated that 600 drones were detected heading toward the capital region between Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Sobyanin added that air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 201 of the incoming drones over the region. (ANI)
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