At a secret location in rural Ukraine, columns of attack drones are assembled at night and in near silence to strike deep inside Russia.

Their targets are strategic: oil refineries, fuel depots, and military logistics hubs. Since the summer, Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign has ramped up dramatically, pounding energy infrastructure across Russia and stretching Moscow’s air defenses thin.

Built from parts made in a scattered network of workshops, these drones now fly much further than at any point in the war.

Officers in body armor move with quick precision; headlamps glow red to stay hidden. Engines sputter like old motorcycles as exhaust fumes drift into the moonless night. Minutes later, one after another, the drones lift from a makeshift runway and head east. The strikes have caused gasoline shortages in Russia, even forcing rationing in some regions and underscoring a growing vulnerability in the country’s infrastructure. Lt. Gen. Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Ukrainian Security Service, said Friday that more than 160 successful strikes had been carried out against Russia’s oil extraction and refining facilities so far this year.

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