Drone barrage and damage
Ukraine says its air defences shot down 87 drones during a Russian night attack that involved 98 UAVs. (news.online.ua) Journalists also report that new Ukrainian drones are being used offensively to strike and damage Russia's oil industry, amplifying economic costs beyond the battlefield. (fortune.com)
Ukraine said it repelled most of a new Russian overnight drone barrage on April 13, downing or suppressing 87 of 98 unmanned aircraft. (ilsole24ore.com) Ukraine’s Air Force said the attack began just after midnight and included Shahed-type drones, Gerbera and Italmas decoys, and other unmanned aircraft launched from Russian regions and occupied Crimea. It said 9 strike drones hit 9 locations, and debris from intercepted targets fell at one more site. (koroldanylo.com.ua) The attack came hours after a 32-hour Orthodox Easter truce expired and both sides accused each other of repeated violations during the pause. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 33 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over Belgorod, Kursk, Rostov, Bryansk, Smolensk, and occupied Crimea overnight. (ilsole24ore.com) The fighting is now shaped by cheap pilotless aircraft on both sides, from long-range strike drones to interceptors that hunt other drones in the sky. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said interceptor drones destroyed more than 33,000 enemy unmanned aircraft in March, double February’s total. (mod.gov.ua) Kyiv says those systems are no longer only defensive. Recent reporting, citing the Institute for the Study of War, says Ukrainian drone upgrades have also helped slow Russian advances, hit Russian air-defense systems, and support counterattacks along the front. (aol.com) The same campaign is reaching deep into Russia’s oil network. Reporting this week said Ukrainian strikes have hit Novorossiysk on the Black Sea and the Baltic export hubs of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, sites that previously handled about 45% of Russia’s seaborne crude exports. (yahoo.com) Reuters reported on April 8 that a Ukrainian attack damaged a mooring point at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s terminal in Novorossiysk and set four oil-product reservoirs on fire. Separate Reuters reporting on April 5 said a drone strike forced Lukoil’s Norsi refinery, about 800 kilometers from Ukraine, to halt operations. (usnews.com) (yahoo.com) Ukraine’s aim is to make Russia spend more to protect fuel production, storage, and export routes while still facing nightly attacks on Ukrainian cities. By April 14, the war’s drone contest had become a two-way campaign of air defense at home and economic disruption across the border. (mod.gov.ua) (ilsole24ore.com)
