Ukraine drone hits Russia’s Arctic region, almost 3,000km from border

• A Ukrainian drone struck an industrial facility in Russia's Arctic Yamalia region, about 2,800km from Ukraine's border, causing a fire but no casualties.
• The attack is reported as the longest-range strike on Russia since the 2022 invasion, marking the first to hit the Arctic part of the Urals.
• Ukraine has increased long-range drone strikes in response to Russian attacks, with President Zelensky vowing to make Russian airspace unsafe during the war.

MOSCOW - A Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an industrial facility in Russia’s Arctic Yamalia region on Sept 9, some 2,800km from the Ukrainian border, officials said.

The Russian Mediazona news outlet reported the attack was the longest-range on Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in 2022.

“A drone attack on an industrial facility in Novy Urengoy was repelled today. Falling debris from the drone caused a fire,” the governor of Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets region, Dmitry Artyukhov, said on Telegram.

“The main thing is that there were no deaths or injuries. The extent and nature of the damage are being determined,” he added.

Novy Urengoy, home to around 100,000 people, lies just south of Russia’s Arctic circle.

Ukraine’s FirePoint arms company said the drone had “travelled over 3,300km and successfully hit the target” in a post on social media.

Artem Zhoga, the Kremlin’s envoy to the Urals, said the strike was the first ever to hit the Arctic part of his region.

Ukraine has escalated its long-range strikes on Russia in recent months, in retaliation for daily Russian bombardment of Ukrainian towns and cities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier in September that his country’s drones would make Russian airspace “completely unsafe” for the duration of the war.

Mediazona reported the strike appeared to target an energy facility, quoting Ukrainian open-source intelligence. AFP