Ukrainian long-range drones struck targets across several Russian regions overnight on 27 July, hitting sites from the front line to more than a thousand kilometers inside the country, monitoring channels reported. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the attacks and tied them to what he calls Ukraine's plan of long-range sanctions on Moscow's war economy. The targets ran from a sea-port terminal near the war zone to oil infrastructure deep in Russia's rear.

Belgorod: a strike near the FSB, then a missile system detonated

In Belgorod, drones hit near the Federal Security Service (FSB) compound, Russia's domestic security agency, while more explosions and fires were recorded elsewhere in the city, local outlet Pepel reported. Ukrainian reports also listed Interior Ministry offices among the targets. 

Ukraine likely struck an air-defense system in the city too. Footage shared by Exilenova+ showed a fixed-wing drone hitting a target in the center, followed by a detonation typical of a solid-fuel missile and a column of black smoke, Militarnyi reported.

Belgorod's operational headquarters confirmed the attack, claiming several apartments and more than 15 parked cars caught fire. Parts of the city lost power and water, Pepel noted.

Rostov-on-Don: fire at the sea port

At Rostov-on-Don, Astra placed the strike at the sea trade port, with smoke rising over its fourth cargo district by morning. The port sits on the Don River but holds sea-port status in the Azov–Black Sea basin, handling foreign-flagged ships bound for the Black Sea and Mediterranean.

At the time of the strike, ship-tracking service MarineTraffic showed five civilian vessels in the Don near the city, Militarnyi reported. Rostov's governor, Yuri Slyusar, claimed fires at a private enterprise and warehouses, though his casualty figures shifted between statements.

The port already runs at minimal capacity amid Operation MoLoChKa—whose stylized name abbreviates “Moscow will fall through Crimea”—Ukraine's campaign against Russian maritime logistics, including the shadow fleet that circumvents sanctions to transport oil. Its drones have struck 200 vessels in the Azov and Black seas, according to the current stats on the drone forces website.

Udmurtia: explosions 1,300 km away

Far to the east, explosions hit the Udmurt Republic near Sarapul, Astra reported, and Exilenova+ noted smoke on the town's outskirts. The head of the republic, Aleksandr Brechalov, claimed air defenses were repelling a large attack and that several drones were shot down. 

Zelenskyy and the General Staff confirm

Zelenskyy confirmed drones hit an export terminal in Rostov Oblast, about 250 kilometers from the front line. Deep strikes also hit oil facilities in Yaroslavl Oblast and the Udmurt Republic, roughly 1,300 kilometers from Ukraine's border, he said. 

"This night our long-range sanctions worked in Rostov Oblast," he wrote, saying the strikes reduce Russia's ability to finance the war. 

Ukraine's General Staff said its forces struck the Rostov-on-Don terminal, recording a hit followed by a fire.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed it downed 276 drones overnight, without saying how many got through. 

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A week earlier, Ukraine's Security Service said drones damaged the tank farm of the Subkhankulovo oil-pumping station in Bashkortostan, then the agency's farthest strike at 1,350 kilometers.

On 25 June, Ukrainian drones hit the Tyumen oil refinery some 2,000 km out and set fire to a Wildberries warehouse in Yekaterinburg roughly 1,800 km away.

Ukraine's counterintelligence of a spy agency has detained a young woman accused of helping Russia prepare an air strike meant to leave Poltava—a city in central Ukraine—without power, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said. Investigators say the student mapped the city's energy sites in Poltava and the surrounding area and filmed Ukrainian air-defense units for Russian handlers before any strike could land. She now sits in custody and faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

A student lured by "easy money"

The suspect is a student at a local university in Poltava Oblast, the SBU reported. She came to the attention of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) while hunting for easy money in Telegram channels, according to the agency. After recruiting her, her handlers set her to work in her own hometown.

Mapping the grid, filming the defenses

Under the guise of walks, she moved through the city and surrounding area to fix the locations of energy facilities that feed the oblast center and nearby districts. Those were the sites Russia was preparing to hit from the air. She also rode around Poltava Oblast by taxi, taking photos and video of Ukrainian air-defense units. Officers say they exposed her in advance and detained her before any strike. During a search, they seized smartphones and computer equipment holding evidence of her work for the enemy.

Investigators served her a suspicion notice under Part 2 of Article 111 of Ukraine's Criminal Code, which covers high treason committed under martial law. She is being held without the right to bail. She faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

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What came before

Russia keeps leaning on Ukrainians recruited online to scout for its strikes, and Ukraine's security service reports such arrests regularly. Days earlier, officers detained another suspect in Kharkiv Oblast, accused of planting hidden cameras to guide Russian attacks. The kind of energy sites she scouted have sat at the center of Russia's long campaign against Ukraine's power grid, which has forced blackouts through successive winters.