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Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has been given weapons by the US and other western nations but it has also been restricted in its use of those weapons. Specifically, Ukraine was not allowed to fire those weapons into Russian territory for fear of escalating the conflict.
Even now, as Ukraine has penetrated several miles into Russia’s Kursk region, restrictions on «deep strikes» still limit what they can target. But Ukraine has launched scores of drone attacks on Russian territory.
Ukraine has been stepping up its long-range strikes inside Russia over the past few months, launching scores of drones simultaneously at strategic targets several times a week.
The targets include air force bases, oil and ammunition depots and command centres.
Ukrainian firms are now producing hundreds of armed one-way attack drones a month, at a fraction of the cost it takes to produce a similar drone in the West.
Most of the drones, which are being manufactured in a former furniture factory, get show down before reaching a target. Still, they are having an impact.
Ukraine’s deep strikes against Russian military targets and its three-week-old ground offensive inside Russian territory have appeared to be yielding military and political results during the past week.
Russia was reported to be moving its aircraft back from airfields near the Ukrainian border while glide bomb attacks inside Ukraine were reported to have decreased. Evidence that Moscow was scrambling elite units from Ukraine to defend home turf also mounted during the week.
An unnamed White House official told the Politico news website that “90 percent of the planes that launch glide bombs” against Ukrainian front-line positions had been moved back inside Russia.
