In an evening address on 16 March, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the Defence Forces for Ukraine's new long-range capability, which hits vulnerable military targets in Russia.
The president promised Russia a "purely military response" to the terrorist attack in Odesa.
"In these weeks, many have already seen that the Russian system of warfare has vulnerabilities and that we can reach these vulnerabilities with our weapons. And I thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine for Ukraine's new long-range capability. Of course, I also thank our defence industry - everyone who works for the sake of Ukrainian strength, because this is truly Ukrainian long-range capability - what our own drones can do," the president said.
He noted that Ukraine will now always have its own striking force in the sky.
Ukrainian drones have recently been regularly striking military targets and infrastructure in Russia that serves the Kremlin's aggression, including oil refineries. For example, SBU drones recently attacked three refineries in Russia's Samara Region. Ukrainian drones attacked the Novokuybyshevsk, Kuybyshev and Syzran refineries.
A day earlier, GUR drones hit an oil refinery in Russia's Kaluga Region. Ukrainian intelligence noted that the Putin regime used this facility for military purposes.
Prior to that, Rosneft's largest refinery in Ryazan lost its capacity as a result of a Ukrainian drone strike. The refinery sustained serious damage to two of its four primary oil processing units.