Zelenskyy Says Ukraine Drones Hammer Russian Oil Sites as Russia Moves Air Defenses to Moscow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is moving a significant part of its air defenses to protect prime targets including Moscow after Ukraine’s long-range drones hammered sites deep inside Russia.

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Al Jazeera

Zelenskyy said Kyiv’s forces hit two more Russian oil refineries in Ufa, 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from the front line, and an oil depot in the Krasnodar region, 300 kilometers (180 miles) from Ukraine.

Al Jazeera

He said that in the Moscow region alone Russia has amassed hundreds of launchers for air defense missiles and that “Nearly 90 launchers have been redeployed to Valdai from other regions of Russia.”

Zelenskyy also said Russia is shifting air defenses to the capital and to Valdai, a town about 500 kilometers (300 miles) northwest of Moscow, and to protect the Kerch Bridge, described as a vital supply route connecting the Crimean Peninsula with the Russian mainland.

The AP report said it was not possible to independently verify Zelenskyy’s claims, and Russian officials made no immediate comment.

The Wall Street Journal, as cited by the Jerusalem Post, reported that Russia has been pressuring Belarus to open a new front against the war with Ukraine by using Belarusian territory to launch even more drones into Ukraine.

The Jerusalem Post also reported that Zelenskyy gave Alexander Lukashenko a week to take down Russian drone stations and appeared to warn that Ukraine would strike them, saying “I think a week will be enough for him to do it. If he doesn’t do it, we will.”

AP News

On Thursday, the Kremlin denied the WSJ report, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying “Belarus isn’t participating,” and Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin warned Minsk perceived a “blatant” attempt to drag it into the war.

Separately, the Institute for the Study of War assessment cited by UNITED24 Media said Lukashenko continues to resist pressure from Russia to fully drag Belarus into the war and that Moscow has weaponized Belarus’s economic vulnerability by threatening to withdraw financial support and economic subsidies.

UNITED24 Media also said Zelenskyy reported that Belarus de facto complied with his ultimatum by disabling long-range signal repeaters mounted on communication towers along the border.

CNN reported that Russia is still inching forward in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, concentrating troops as it tries to encircle the “fortress belt” city of Kostyantynivka and the city of Lyman.

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BBC

CNN said TASS claimed Russian forces had “gained full control” of Kostyantynivka’s eastern part and approached its northeastern outskirts, while the Institute for the Study of War described parts of the city as a contested “gray zone.”

ISW Russia team lead Kateryna Stepanenko told CNN that “These are infiltrations, these are not advances,” adding that Russian groups of “maybe one to two guys” would need “quite a lot of time and quite a lot of resources” to consolidate.

In the same CNN report, Ukrainian press officer Kostiantyn Melnykov of the 24th Mechanized Brigade said “The situation in the Kostyantynivka sector, particularly in Kostyantynivka itself, has been noticeably deteriorating in recent weeks.”

The Guardian’s briefing also said Zelenskyy told Ukrainians he “instructed our intelligence services and military to act pre-emptively against facilities Russia uses to expand its war effort,” as European allies prepared for a NATO summit in Ankara in July.