Ukrainian drones hit the usually peaceful Russian city of Oryol early on Friday morning, Aug. 29 in a possible retaliation attack for a deadly Russian strike the night before.
The Ukrainian strike against Russia’s Oryol was less than 20 aircraft, observers said. Four Russian civilians reportedly were injured. The city is some 220-240 kilometers (137-149 miles) from probable Ukrainian drone launch sites.
Russia’s military on Thursday used bombers, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, “hypersonic” missiles, and more than 560 drones in attacks focusing on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. A reported 23 Ukrainians, among them four children, were killed and more than 50 civilians were injured.
Four Russian civilians were injured in the Ukrainian attack against Oryol, local officials said.
A relatively wealthy industrial city, Oryol (Russian: Орел = “eagle”), until Friday morning had almost been untouched by the Russia-Ukraine War. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian drones had struck around the city only twice, in December 2023 and February 2024.
Both air raids were less than ten aircraft attacking the city’s oil refinery, news reports at the time said. The last time air raid sirens had been turned on in Oryol was in May, but no drones ever appeared, the independent Astra news agency reported on Friday
Reports of Ukrainian drones in the air and heading towards the city of 300,000+ flooded social media shortly before midnight. Attacks by a reported 12-17 aircraft over about 30 minutes of strikes was thoroughly recorded by social media and security cameras at locations across the city.
Content uploaded by Oryol social media users showed Ukrainian Liutiy long-range drones flying horizontally at around 100 meters (328 feet) altitude before sharply diving to impact on the ground. Residents reported hearing between 10 and 17 explosions. There was little evidence of Russian air defenses engaging the Ukrainian aircraft. One video showed a drone impacting and detonating against the upper story of a high-rise building.
Over the night according to a Russia defense ministry statement, air defense forces claimed they shot down a total 54 Ukrainian drones violating airspace in 10 Russian regions, as well as over the Russia-occupied Crimea peninsula and the Black Sea. The official Kremlin announcement listed only four shoot-downs over Oryol.
Some Russian social media reported the Ukrainian drones appeared to be targeting an Oryol airfield used by a military helicopter unit, but there was no confirmation of that. Post-strike video showed a fire burning in a city residential district.
An announcement by the Oryol region governor’s office said all the Ukrainian drones were shot down. Four Oryol residents were injured and four buildings – an apartment high-rise, two private homes, and an administrative building were damaged by falling debris, the local news channel Zhest Oryel reported.
The news platform Novosti Orel I Oblast reported police had cordoned off the site of one of the Ukrainian drone strikes in the vicinity of Polesskaya street. The road is in the city’s western Sovetskiy district, a mixed residential-industrial region containing apartment buildings, three universities, and a hospital.
Ukraine, since August has targeted Russia’s energy infrastructure. Potentially, two corporate properties in the district – the head office of the regional electricity and power company Orlovsiy Energosbyt, and the regional headquarters of the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom – would be typical targets for a Ukrainian drone strike.
Russian strike planners at times have seemed to seek maximum Ukrainian civilian casualties at times by targeting apartment buildings, crowded train stations, hospitals, subway stations and public gatherings. However, Moscow spokesmen maintain Russia only attacks military targets.
The bloodiest single Russian attack on Ukraine probably was on the village of Hroza in Kharkiv Oblast on Oct. 5, 2023. Missiles hit a cafe and grocery store where civilians had gathered for a memorial service, killing 51 people, including a six-year-old child, and injuring six. The strike wiped out approximately one-fifth of the village’s population.
Ukrainian strike planners seem to have been less willing to risk civilian casualties and, for the most part, have targeted Russian military units, along with logistics nodes or energy production infrastructure. Russian air defense systems, bomber aircraft and senior officers have been priority targets.
In August, Ukraine launched a drone strike campaign visibly targeting oil and gas production and transportation infrastructure in western Russia. After four weeks of bombardment about 20% of crude oil processing capacity in the entire Russian Federation was offline because of damage from drone hits and fires set by them, market observers have said. According to Friday’s Russian news reports, the production cuts have spiked prices and even empty pumps at gas stations as far away as the Russian Far East.
