Key developments on July 11:
Ukraine behind new pipeline explosion in Siberia that supplies Russian military-industrial complex, source claimsRussian troops tasked to create 10-kilometer buffer zone in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine’s spy chief saysUkrainian drone strikes reported at Russian MiG plant, other defense industry facilities amid mass attackRussian drone attacks on Odesa, Kharkiv injure at least 20
Ukraine was behind the operation that caused an explosion on a major gas pipeline in the city of Langepas, Russia’s Tyumen Oblast, a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent on July 11.
According to the source, the incident destroyed a section of the key pipeline supplying Russian military-industrial facilities in Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, and Sverdlovsk oblasts.
Langepas is located in western Siberia, some 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
The explosion reportedly led to a large fire, with immediate damages estimated at $1.3 million.
Repairing and testing the pipeline could take about a month, the source said. Due to damage in a swampy area, repairs will be challenging, reducing gas supply by 25 million cubic meters and causing indirect losses of nearly $76 million, the source in HUR added.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.
Ukraine’s HUR destroys Russian command post in occupied Melitopol in joint operation with partisans
“As a result of the explosion, a satellite communication hardware station—intended by Russian military leadership to coordinate occupying forces—was also destroyed,” Ukraine’s military intelligence said.
Russian troops tasked to create 10-kilometer buffer zone in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine’s spy chief says
Russian troops have been tasked with establishing a buffer zone up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine’s military intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with Bloomberg, published on July 11.
Budanov’s remarks come as Russian troops continue their offensive in the neighboring Donetsk Oblast, pushing closer to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast — a major industrial region in central Ukraine.
In mid-June, Ukraine’s military denied reports that Russian troops had entered the region, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that Ukrainian troops had intercepted Russian reconnaissance units attempting to breach Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
“It’s not realistic for Russia to seize all of Donetsk Oblast by the end of the year,” Budanov said.
According to Budanov, Russia’s earlier announcement of its entry into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast serves a political goal.
Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (Nizar al-Rifai/The Kyiv Independent)
Ukrainian drone strikes reported at Russian MiG plant, other defense industry facilities amid mass attack
Drone attacks were reported on July 11 near a Russian oil depot and multiple defense industry facilities, including a MiG jet fighter production plant near Moscow, according to an independent Russian news outlet, Astra.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its forces downed 155 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 53 over Kursk Oblast and 13 over Tula Oblast.
Kyiv regularly targets Russian industrial and military facilities deep in the rear, aiming to undermine Moscow’s ability to wage its all-out war.
Residents of Tula, a city over 300 kilometers (roughly 200 miles) from the Ukrainian border, reported explosions in the city’s industrial Proletarsky district. According to Astra, three major defense industry facilities that have been previously targeted in drone strikes are located in the area.
The JSC Instrument Design Bureau develops precision munitions, the NPO Splav produces multiple-launch rocket systems, and Shcheglovsky Val JSC — one of Russia’s largest defense companies — produces guided weapons, air defenses, and small arms.
It is not immediately clear whether the facilities suffered damage. Tula Oblast Governor Dmitry Milyaev reported one person killed and another injured, without providing additional details on potential damage.
Russian authorities largely do not comment on possible damage to strategic or military facilities caused by Ukrainian attacks.
In Moscow Oblast, residents of the Lukhovitsy town, lying some 110 kilometers (70 miles) southeast of the Russian capital, reported a drone attack near the local aviation plant and an oil depot, Astra reported.
The Lukhovitsy Aviation Plant produces warplanes used by Russian forces in Ukraine, including MiG-29 fighter jets and MiG-31 Kinzhal missile carriers. Astra noted that the drone strike’s actual target in Lukhovitsy remains unclear.
“The Lukhovitsy Aviation Plant was under attack. It specializes in the production and modernization of the MiG-29 and MiG-31 fighters and their modifications,” saidAndrii Kovalenko, an official at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.
Kovalenko also noted that the facility is developing new fighter jet models based on the MiG platforms and is involved in upgrading the Shahed-type attack drones.
Elsewhere in the region, drones reportedly attacked the Kronstadt drone factory in Dubna, roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Moscow, a facility previously targeted in a Ukrainian attack in May.
Moscow Oblast Governor Andrey Vorobyov did not report on possible attacks in the region, and Russia’s Defense Ministry did not report downing any drones in the area.
Russian regional authorities reported injuries in other regions as a result of Ukrainian drone attacks, including four people allegedly wounded in Kursk Oblast.
Europe will also benefit from US-Ukraine minerals investment fund, Americans say
The Ukraine-U.S. Reconstruction Investment Fund will provide opportunities not only for U.S. companies but also for other countries, representatives of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation said during a workshop at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on July 11.
Russian drone attacks on Odesa, Kharkiv injure at least 20
A Russian drone attack against the southern city of Odesa on July 11 injured at least 11 people, damaging residential buildings and a horse stable, local authorities reported.
One horse was killed in the attack, the State Emergency Service said. Photos published by the service show other horses bloodied and visibly injured.
Administrative buildings, cars, and civilian infrastructure were also damaged.
The port city of Odesa, Ukraine’s third most populous city and a major maritime transport hub, is a regular target of Russian missile and drone attacks.
In Kharkiv, Russian drones injured nine people overnight on July 11, including women in a maternity hospital. The medical facility was damaged as well.
“Women in labor with children, women after surgery. Fortunately, there were no children among the victims. Russia targets life. Even where it is just beginning,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said, stressing the critical need for additional air defense for Ukraine.
Note from the author:
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