Zelenskyy: Ukrainian strikes reveal Russia's military vulnerabilities

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the Ukrainian strikes reveal Russia's military vulnerabilities.

“The recent successful Ukrainian drone strikes on targets in the Russian Federation demonstrate Russia's vulnerabilities and Ukraine's long-range capabilities,” President Zelenskyy said in his evening address on March 16, according to The Kyiv Independent.

Ukrainian forces struck multiple oil refineries in Russia this week, reaching targets in Samara, Ryazan, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod, and Leningrad oblasts. The strikes follow recent success downing Russian war planes and hitting the Black Sea Fleet.

"These weeks have demonstrated to many that the Russian war machine has vulnerabilities that we can reach with our weapons," Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy has long said that improving Ukraine's long-range strike capabilities is critical. At the Munich Security Conference on February 17, Zelenskyy urged allies not to give Russia the upper hand by allowing Ukraine's "deficit" of long-range weapons grow.

While Kyiv continues to lobby Western allies for long-range missile systems, including German-made Taurus missiles and US ATACMS, Ukraine has also been developing its own long-range weapons.

Ukraine's Beaver drone, an attack drone that can fly up to 800 kilometres, has reportedly struck numerous critical targets, including Russian missile storage facilities.

Zelenskyy thanked the Ukrainian military and defence-industrial complex for their achievements.

"What our own drones are capable of is a true Ukrainian long-range capability. Ukraine will now always have a strike force in the sky," he said.

The facilities hit by Ukrainian drones in the past days account for about 12 per cent of Russia’s oil-processing capacity, Bloomberg reported.

Profits from Russian oil continue to fund Russia's war against Ukraine.