Key Points and Summary – On its Independence Day, Ukraine launched a highly effective drone barrage deep into Russia, striking critical infrastructure.
-The attack caused a “huge blaze” at the major Ust-Luga gas processing terminal near St. Petersburg, hitting the “heart” of the facility.
-Another drone strike hit the Kursk nuclear power plant, forcing a partial reactor shutdown.
-These attacks are a part of Ukraine’s increasingly successful campaign to cripple Russia’s energy and industrial hubs, demonstrating the growing reach and sophistication of its domestically produced drones in what some are calling the “first world drone war.”
Ukraine Strikes a Russian Gas-Processing Facility
Ukraine has reportedly launched another effective drone barrage on Russia, with Reuters reporting that Ukrainian drones have successfully hit both a reactor at a major Russian nuclear power plant, while also causing “a huge blaze” at the Ust-Luga fuel export terminal.
“Ukraine’s campaign to cripple Kremlin oil and gas production with relentless drone strikes chalked up another processing plant set ablaze on Sunday, with long-range robot aircraft scoring hits and touching off fiery explosions on the premises of a major condensate gas processing site near the Baltic Sea port city St. Petersburg,” the Kyiv Post reported.
The Ust-Luga facility was described as “Russia’s main processing site for natural gas piped from the Arctic and West Siberia.”
The attack took place on August 24, which is Ukraine’s Independence Day; Ukraine had declared independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.
Kursk is Struck
The drones on Sunday struck the Kursk nuclear power plant, which, per Reuters, had the effect of “damaging an auxiliary transformer and forcing a 50% reduction in the operating capacity at reactor No. 3.”
However, “Radiation levels were normal and there were no injuries from the fire which the drone sparked,” Reuters said, citing the plant.
Per Euromaidan Press, the Ust-Luga attack marks Ukraine’s second successful strike on that gas hub this year, after Ukraine struck the same location in January.
“Ukrainian drones struck the gas processing complex of Novatek, the largest liquefied gas producer in Russia. The hit targeted the cryogenic fractionation unit for gas condensate/gas, which is the ‘heart’ of the facility’s technological processes,” a Ukrainian Army Telegram channel said, per Euromaidan Press.
“It is the ‘heart’ of the gas processing complex: this is where rectification and separation of components take place, which are then either exported or used as raw materials for the Baltic Gas Chemical Complex (ethylene, polymers, etc.),” OSINT analysts from the CyberBoroshno group said on Telegram, as cited by New Voice of Ukraine.
“The Ust-Luga facility is one of Europe’s largest, capable of processing up to 45 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, producing 13 million tons of LNG, 3.6 million tons of ethane, and 1.8 million tons of propane-butane.
“CyberBoroshno noted this was not the first attack on the complex. In January, drones targeted the facility’s fractionation and transshipment unit for stable gas condensate at the Ust-Luga port.”
A Journalist on Drones
American journalist Trudy Rubin, a foreign affairs columnist and correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer, recently visited Ukraine and wrote a dispatch called “Lessons from Ukraine’s ‘First World Drone War.’”
Rubin visited a drone command center, in what the story’s dateline described as “Direction Pokrovsk, Ukraine.”
“In a warren of rooms filled with computers, 3D printers, colorful wires, and drone frames, the atmosphere was casual, but the intentions were deadly,” she writes. “In the basement command center, three of the soldier-techies stared at multiple screens with dozens of views delivered by Ukrainian-made surveillance drones. They were looking for Russian targets in a war that had lasted for three and a half years.”
She shared some of the successes Ukraine has had with drones in the war, and how it has helped keep the war effort alive.
“Sea drones drove Russian ships out of the Black Sea along the Ukrainian coast, and continue to strike at the critical Kerch Bridge connecting Russia to Crimea,” she writes. “In June, Ukrainian security services conducted the amazing Operation Spiderweb, which damaged or destroyed up to 40 Russian warplanes worth billions of dollars, deep inside Russia — all with 117 small drones costing $500 each.”
There are also, she says, possible lessons for allies to learn from the Ukrainian drone effort.
“Kyiv would sell tens of billions of dollars’ worth of advanced Ukrainian-made drones to America, and, in return, would buy double that dollar amount of U.S. weapons systems, financed by Europe. Both countries would then be far better equipped for the challenges of modern conflict.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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