Ukrainian Missile Campaign Now Reaches Across Half of Russia

Ukraine has significantly expanded the range and intensity of its long-range strikes inside Russia, with missile alerts reported this year across regions home to more than 70% of the Russian population.

According to the Russian monitoring channel Radar across all of Russia, in the past week alone, air-raid warnings have been issued across at least five regions of the Volga Federal District southeast of Moscow, with the Astrakhan region (around 900 km [559 miles] from the Ukrainian border) and parts of the North Caucasus (roughly 800–1,200 km [497-746 miles] away) also being affected. 

Central Russia – including the Moscow region (about 400–500 km [249-311 miles]), Vladimir region (around 450 km [280 miles]), Tambov region (roughly 350 km [217 miles]), Orel region (about 250 km [155 miles]), and Lipetsk region (around 300 km [186 miles]) – have also repeatedly issued alerts.

On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces struck the Ufa oil refinery, located more than 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) from the front line, for a second time, as well as a military-industrial facility in Russia’s Penza region (around 700 km [435 miles] from Ukraine) producing missile components.

However, the claims could not be independently verified.

According to a Bloomberg analysis published Wednesday, the expansion marks a shift from earlier phases of the war, when missile alerts were largely confined to Russian regions bordering Ukraine.

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This year, even remote areas such as Omsk in western Siberia (nearly 3,000 km [1864 miles] from the Ukrainian border) have reported alerts for the first time.

The latest air-raid alert in the region that Kyiv Post was able to verify was issued at 2:06 p.m. on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s expanding long-range arsenal reportedly includes domestically developed systems such as the “Flamingo” cruise missile, which Ukrainian officials say can travel more than 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) and has been used against industrial targets deep inside Russia.

Earlier this week in Samara, a city on the Volga River (about 1,000 km [621 miles] from Ukraine) with a population of 1.2 million, temporarily suspended overground public transport during an air alert, though its metro remained open as a shelter.

Analysts, cited by Bloomberg, say Ukraine is increasingly attempting to overwhelm Russian air defenses with mass drone attacks, creating openings for cruise missiles to reach deeper targets, particularly oil refineries and defense plants.

Recent strikes have also disrupted Russia’s energy sector, with multiple regions reporting fuel shortages or rationing after repeated refinery attacks.

Military analysts say the widening strike campaign is designed not only to degrade Russia’s industrial capacity but also to increase domestic pressure on the Kremlin as the war enters its fifth year, bringing the conflict increasingly into everyday Russian life.