Ukraine has clearance to strike more Russian targets – here are the key sites it can hit ...Middle East

Western allies have lifted the range restrictions for weapons supplied to Ukraine, improving Kyiv’s ability to defend itself against Russia. 

Previously, countries like the UK, US, France and Germany gave Ukraine long-range weapons on the condition they be fired only on Russian targets within Ukraine, with rare exceptions.

They are significantly more powerful than the home-made attack drones which Ukraine has long been firing into Russia itself.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that those constraints had been lifted, giving Kyiv a far wider selection of targets.

“This means that Ukraine can now defend itself, for example, by attacking military positions in Russia,” he said.

The following day Merz said the change was implemented quietly, months before he publicised it.

These are the types of targets in the crosshairs:

Military bases

Russian military bases have been a high-profile target for the Ukrainian military, which wants to take out the sites Moscow uses to launch its own missiles and drones.

The Engels-2 airbase is one of Russia’s most strategically important military facilities. Located in the Saratov region, it serves as a key base for Russia’s long-range strategic bombers, including the Tu-95 and Tu-160. Disrupting operations there could significantly impact Russia’s ability to conduct long-range attacks.

The damage to Russia's Engels-2 airbase from Ukrainian drone strikes on the 19th of March has been revealed in new satellite imagery. Significant damage can be seen to multiple buildings; some have been reduced to craters. : @Maxar pic.twitter.com/IPH508jdbd

The latest attack on the airbase appears to have occurred during the night of March 20. The Ukrainian military said it took out dozens of air-launched cruise missiles and was especially potent due to secondary detonation. The i Paper was not able to independently verify its claim.

The Morozovsk Air Base in the Rostov region, which supports fighter jets and bombers, has also been hit before by Ukrainian drones.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian naval facilities, especially those supporting its Black Sea Fleet.

Ukrainian strikes have hit key naval bases such as Novorossiysk, aiming to disrupt Russia’s ability to launch naval operations and control the Black Sea.

A satellite image shows smoke billowing after a 2023 attack on a Russian base in Sevastopol in occupied Crimea, Ukraine (Photo: PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via REUTERS)

Sevastopol, a site in occupied Crimea, has also been a frequent target.

As well as missiles, the Ukrainian military has deployed its innovative marine drones against Russian warships.

Oil refineries and depots 

Ukraine also intensified its campaign against Russian oil infrastructure, targeting key refineries and depots across multiple regions.

The attacks can both harm Russia’s economy and disrupt the supply of fuel to its military.

In January, Ukrainian drones struck the Ryazan oil refinery, owned by Russia’s largest oil company, Rosneft, igniting a fire and damaging equipment.

The facility processes approximately 13.1 million metric tons of oil annually, accounting for nearly 5% of Russia’s total refining capacity, according to Reuters.

Earlier, in December 2024, Ukraine launched a coordinated missile and drone attack on the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Rostov region, causing a fire.

Ukrainian drones targeted industrial facilities across Russia late Sunday into early Monday morning, according to Russian media and researchers.

There were targets hit in the Republic of Tatarstan, as well as in the Ivanovo and Tula regions, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Drones struck a warehouse at the Dmitrievsky Chemical Plant in the Ivanovo region, it said, as well as plants in the Tula region manufacturing multiple launch rocket systems, grenade launchers, ammunition, guided and unguided missiles, the ISW said.

What’s in Ukraine’s arsenal?

Matthew Savill, Director of Military Science at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), listed some of the weapons Ukraine is now freer to use.

They include US HIMARS launchers and their longer-range ATACMS missiles, as well as the Storm Shadow cruise missiles sent by the UK and France.

“These all reach behind the ‘front lines’ but to varying degrees,” Savill said. HIMARS goes past 50km, while ATACMS can reach targets of nearly 300km, he said.

“All of these weapons, if completely free to use, will help with hitting Russian forces massing in Russia, and their support logistics and headquarters, which also supply Russian forces inside Ukraine.”

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There is speculation that Germany also contributed Taurus cruise missiles, which can reach 500km or more – but there is no official word after Merz stopped making public the weapons Germany was providing.

“Likely targets are anything the Russians are likely to have hardened with reinforced concrete – command posts and storage facilities for munitions and missiles like Kalibr,” some of which are in Crimea, he said.

“The fuzing of the MEPHISTO warhead makes it especially useful against /hardened and buried targets,” said another RUSI analyst, Dr Sidharth Kaushal, of the Taurus.

“That said, as an air-launched missile, the range at which it can be launched and thus likely target set will be constrained by the threat the Russian air defence network poses to the launching aircraft.”

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