Ukraine is increasingly successful in hitting targets in Russia, - Estonian intelligence
Ukrainian drones and missiles are delivering increasingly effective strikes against Russian military targets, and the depletion of Russian air defenses is making these attacks even more successful.
According to Censor.NET, this was stated by Ants Kivisild, head of the Estonian Defense Forces Intelligence Center.
"The ever-increasing intensity and geographical reach of Ukrainian drone and missile strikes, the increase in the number of attack weapons and the expansion of their range will undoubtedly become an increasingly serious problem for the Russian Federation in the near future," Kiviselg stressed.
As examples from the past week, he cited Ukrainian strikes on the Russian army's missile and artillery arsenal in the Kostroma region and a military factory in the Lipetsk region.
"Given the number of important targets and their wide distribution across the territory of Russia, as well as the amount of ammunition for air defense spent by the Russian armed forces during the war and the number of air defense systems destroyed, it can be assumed that in 2026, the activity and accuracy of Ukraine's long-range strikes will increase, and the damage caused to the Russian armed forces and economy will be even greater," said the head of the Defense Forces Intelligence Center.
He added that this would reduce Russia's ability to continue the war and develop the Russian narrative that Russia has inexhaustible resources and is capable of waging war for as long as necessary.
"In other words, we see that the Russian Federation's defense capabilities and ability to withstand such Ukrainian strikes are likely to decline throughout 2026," Kiviselg noted.
Strikes against Russia in January 2026
On the night of January 1, units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces struck several important enemy targets:
- The Ilsky oil refinery (Krasnodar Krai, Russian Federation) was hit. Strike UAVs were recorded hitting the target, followed by a fire on the premises.
- Fire damage was inflicted on the Almetyevskaya oil processing plant in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation.
- Fire damage was inflicted on enemy targets in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region.
On the night of January 6, drones attacked the Lipetsk region of the Russian Federation, causing a fire at an oil depot. A series of explosions was heard in the city of Usman during the night. Shortly thereafter, a large-scale fire broke out at the oil depot.
On the night of January 7, Ukrainian defenders struck the Oskolneftesnab oil depot near the village of Kotel in the Belgorod region. The occupiers use the oil depot to supply fuel to their army.
The Defense Forces also struck a warehouse containing material and technical resources belonging to the 20th Motorized Rifle Division of the invaders in the occupied Donetsk region.
