A Blog by Jonathan Low

 

Jan 24, 2025

Drone Bombing of Ryazan Refinery, Factories Exposes Weak Russian Air Defense

Ukraine's drone attack on Russian refineries, oil storage and air bases in Ryazan, 470 kilometers from the border, reveals that Russian air defenses have become so severely degraded that in many areas they have ceased to exist. 

Ryazan is home to Russia's fourth largest refinery, important factories and a major air base from which bombers fly to attack Ukrainian targets.
To even get to Ryazan, the attacking Ukrainian drones had to fly over massive Russian troop concentrations around the border. That so many drones got through to such an important installation suggests that little remains of Russia's once vaunted air defense system and that what does exist is not very good. JL

Defense Express reports:

Ukraine conducted an effective strike on a number of industrial facilities in Ryazan, including an oil refinery, an oil storage facility, and the Novo-Ryazan power plant. The Ryazan refinery is the 4th or 5th largest in Russia which has already been attacked several times in 2024 and received protection from drones in the form of stretched metal cables. Ryazan is also home to the Dyagilevo air base, which houses Tu-22M3 strategic bombers, as well as the 360th Aircraft Repair Plant. That is, Russia should have tightly covered this city with air defense systems. To get to Ryazan, the Ukrainian drones flew over border regions, where there is a concentration of Russian troops.

The Ryazan refinery is one of the top oil refineries in the russian federation, and Ryazan, by all standards, should have been tightly covered by air defense

On the night of January 24, the Defense Forces of Ukraine conducted an extremely effective strike on a number of industrial facilities in Ryazan, including an oil refinery, an oil storage facility, and the Novo-Ryazan combined heat and power plant. All these facilities are located on the southern outskirts of the city. At the same time, this was just one of the groups, as it is already known that several facilities in other regions were also hit.

So, this effective strike serves as a strong indicator of the true state of the russian air defense system.


The true number of drones that attacked russian territory is unknown, as the only information comes from russian sources. However the number of Ukrainian UAVs announced by russians is quite illustrative. The Defense Ministry of the russian federation reported "intercepting" 121 Ukrainian drones, 20 of which allegedly flew over the Ryazan region, while 12 drones struck the Ryazan refinery, according to local media.

This was enough to effectively strike the refinery, which has a capacity of 16-18 million tons per year and ranks 4th or 5th among all russian refineries by capacity. At the same time, this facility has already been attacked several times in 2024 and has even received protection from drones in the form of stretched metal cables.12 Ukrainian Drones Strike Ryazan with Devastating Force: Why Did russian Air Defense Fail to Intercept Them?, Defense Express

Ryazan is also home to the well-known Dyagilevo air base, which houses Tu-22M3 strategic bombers, as well as the 360th Aircraft Repair Plant, specializing in the repair of Tu-22M3, Tu-95MS, and Il-76 aircraft. That is, russians should have tightly covered this city with air defense systems.

At the same time, the Ukrainian drones were also supposed to fly over russian border regions, where there is also a corresponding concentration of russian troops. It is approximately 470 km in a straight line. Thus, this strike demonstrates that it is possible to effectively scale up the destruction of critical facilities on russian territory.

Earlier Defense Express reported that Ukrainian strikes on russian oil depots have significant impact on frontline.

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