Ukraine’s escalating campaign of long-range drone strikes deep inside Russia has dealt another blow to Moscow’s energy sector, striking one of the world’s largest gas processing facilities in the Orenburg region. The strike, which set a massive fire at a key Gazprom facility, also forced Russia to shut off the acceptance of gas from neighboring Kazakhstan, officials in both countries confirmed on Sunday.
The strike is initiated as United States President Donald Trump stirred controversy by suggesting that Ukraine might be compelled to surrender territory to Russia in an effort to terminate the nearly four-year-old war — a dramatic shift in tone after weeks of promising heightened U.S. support for Kyiv.
Drone Attack Strikes Major Russian Energy Facility
The Orenburg Gas Processing Plant, operated by Russian state energy giant Gazprom, is among the largest in the world, with a throughput capacity of 45 billion cubic meters annually. It processes gas condensate from Kazakhstan’s Karachaganak field, along with Russian local deposits, and is central to regional energy output and exports.
Governor of the region Yevgeny Solntsev attested that a workshop at the plant caught fire following multiple drone attacks. “Emergency services are extinguishing the fire. Partial destruction of the building, no casualties so far,” Solntsev posted.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy said that Gazprom had officially notified Astana that the plant was temporarily not in a situation to accept Kazakh-origin gas “due to an emergency condition following a drone attack.”.
Ukraine’s General Staff later claimed responsibility, describing the strike as part of a broader effort to “cripple Russia’s war machine by striking at key energy and industrial infrastructure.” Kyiv reported that “a large-scale fire” erupted in one of the gas processing and purification installations, severely impacting production.
Ukraine Expands Deep-Strike Capabilities
Ukraine has unleashed a spectacular intensification of cross-border drone and missile attacks in recent months, striking oil refineries, depots, and logistical nodes supplying the Kremlin’s war effort. Kyiv’s strategy is aimed at both draining Russia’s energy revenues and undermining domestic confidence in the government’s ability to protect strategic infrastructure, analysts say.
In addition to the Orenburg strike, Ukraine also reported a drone attack on Russia’s Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in the Samara region — another strategic plant run by Rosneft with a refining capacity of nearly 5 million tons annually. Video shared online appeared to show columns of flame and smoke rising from the facility, though Russian authorities have not announced damage.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense, in a Sunday statement early, said its air defenses downed 45 Ukrainian drones overnight, 12 over Samara, one over Orenburg, and 11 over Saratov. Ukraine’s air force, on its part, announced Russia launched 62 drones over Ukrainian territory and claimed to have downed or electronically disabled 40 of them.
Russia Employs Modified Aerial Bombs for Deeper Strikes
Ukrainian authorities accused Moscow of using newly modified guided bombs that were able to penetrate further into civilian areas. The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported that Russia utilized the UMPB-5R, a composite bomb with a rocket-assisted range of as much as 130 kilometers (80 miles), in an attack over the weekend on the city of Lozava.
“This weapon can hit targets far away from the front line, and it’s a new, serious threat to cities,” the prosecutors stated. The attack purportedly damaged multiple commercial apartment buildings, wounding some civilians.
In Dnipropetrovsk, at least 11 were wounded when Russian drones struck the Shakhtarske district, damaging apartment blocks and a shop in the district, said acting regional Governor Vladyslav Haivanenko.
Trump.i.i Proposes Ukraine May Need to Swap Territory for Peace
In the meantime, U.S. President Donald Trump reignited controversy over U.S. policy regarding the war in.i.i.i after.i.i.i.i proposing that Ukraine would need to give up territory as part of a peace.i.i.i deal with Russia.
In a Fox News interview recorded Thursday, Trump was asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin could end the war “without taking significant property” from Ukraine. Trump replied, “Well, he’s going to take something. He’s won certain property… We’re the only nation that goes in, wins a war, and then leaves.”
The statements represent the latest shift in Trump’s Ukraine messaging. Over the past several weeks, he had been growing more frustrated with Putin and suggested a willingness to provide limited new weapons to Kyiv. But his new comments represent a reversion to a more transactional approach — one that would pressure Ukraine into making territorial concessions.
Trump also was hesitant to offer Tomahawk cruise missiles, which Kyiv has requested to strike targets deeper within Russia. “We need them for ourselves too,” Trump said. “We can’t give all our weapons to Ukraine.”
The interview aired Sunday on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures”, just days after Trump spoke by phone with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, then hosted Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday.
Despite the diplomatic push, Trump has not committed to new weapons packages or additional funds for Ukraine’s defense. Experts say his administration’s divided approach may complicate future peace negotiations in Budapest, where Trump and Putin will meet in the weeks to come.
Russians and Ukrainians Bracing for Murky Peace Push
Those on both sides of the border were ambivalent about Trump’s latest remarks. In Kyiv, there is a fear that Western fatigue and political transition could push Ukraine toward a bad peace deal, effectively rewarding Russian aggression.
“We’ve lost too many to give up our territory now,” said Natalia Dmytrenko, a 29-year-old paramedic. “Every strike we make is so they can’t keep funding this war.”
In Moscow, the reaction was more muted but cautiously optimistic. “If Trump is serious about ending the war, it’s time for the U.S. to push Ukraine to the negotiating table,” Igor Lebedev, a Russian diplomat, said.
But analysts have warned that peace brokered through land concessions will at best be fragile. “If Ukraine is forced to give up occupied land, the fighting may stop — but the war won’t be over,” Dr. Elena Markov, a political analyst with the European Security Institute, said.
Outlook: War at a Crossroads
As winter descends, the war in Ukraine appears to be entering a new and volatile stage — one marked by deeper strikes, strategic energy warfare, and political maneuvering at the highest levels.
With both sides escalating attacks on each other’s infrastructure, and diplomacy stuck between Washington’s vacillating signals and Moscow’s hard line, the path to peace is uncertain.
For now, the Orenburg blaze — a fire at one of the world’s largest gas facilities — stands as a dramatic reminder of how this war has reached far beyond front lines, threatening not just troops, but economies and energy networks across Eurasia.
