Ukrainian Drones Reportedly Strike 4 Russian Alcohol Distilleries Located Hundreds of Miles From the Border

A Ukraine-made Mines Eye drone looks for mines in an agricultural field near the front line in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Photo: AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

At around 2 a.m. on Tuesday, four distilleries in Russia were reportedly rocked by Ukrainian drone strikes. Outlets have speculated that the move was intended as a “psychological blow” against the nation’s vodka industry, while others have suggested that military capabilities were the main target.

Initial reporting suggested that alcohol plants in the towns of Yefremov and Luzhkovsky were the first to be hit. Hours later, officials in the Voronezh and Novokhorpsy regions reported that two additional distilleries had been ignited by drone strikes.

Tula Governor Dmitry Milyaev wrote on Telegram there were no casualties and that the situation was “under control.”

Videos circulating online show what appear to be flames rising from the distillery in Yefremov; Daily Kos reported that a synthetic rubber factory and thermal power plant located in the vicinity were also struck by drones. Officials claim that the distillery — located around 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border — was being used to produce fuel for the Russian military.

Explosions rang out in #Russia at night. Tula and Tambov regions were attacked by drones.

As the local authorities write, two distilleries were under attack in the Tula region. There is the company “Biochim”, which also produces alcohol, was also under attack in the Tambov… pic.twitter.com/qiS8H66d64

— Babel.ua: Ukraine at war (@UaBabel) October 22, 2024

It’s the latest in a string of attacks as Ukraine targets deeper and deeper into the Russian heartland. On Sunday, Moscow officials said they shot down more than 100 Ukrainian drones flying over western regions of the country. According to the Russian military, at least 17 drones were shot down amid Tuesday’s distillery strikes.

But why alcohol?

Some outlets have speculated that the strikes were intended as a “psychological blow” to the country’s revered vodka industry. The average Russian drinker purportedly consumes over 180 bottles of vodka per year, a figure you’ll find brought up frequently in discussions of the faltering Russian war effort. Versktaka, an independent Russian-language news website, claimed in 2023 that top-level Kremlin officials have greatly increased their consumption of booze since the onset of the Ukrainian invasion.

“Let’s put in this way: Previously, not everyone within the president’s administration would start the day with a glass of vodka,” an anonymous source said. “Now, I know many more people who do, and for some, a glass has turned into a bottle.”

The real reasoning behind Tuesday’s strikes, however, may be more complex. Though at least two of the damaged factories are confirmed to have produced liquor in years past, it’s unclear whether they were distilling vodka at the time of the attacks.

Dr. Matthew Schmidt, associate professor in the National Security Department at the University of New Haven, told Forbes that the facilities were likely being used to produce industrial-grade alcohol for military efforts.

“The first thought is that these aren’t vodka plants,” Schmidt said. “These are plants that make alcohol for use in industrial applications like stripping down copper wire for hypersonic missiles and all sorts of other industrial projects. These attacks were trying to get at the base of many different aspects of the war economy by taking out a cleaner and an astringent. That’s necessary for the production of all sorts of hardware up the line.”