From civilian aircraft to strategic weapon: Ukraine’s long-range bomber UAV

The Ukrainian forces have revealed a secret tool in their deep strike arsenal. It’s an unassuming single-seater plane that sidles up to your factory before releasing explosives, then optionally nosediving down on the target and self-destructing.

A 5 October attack by these Horynych bombers — named after the dragon of Slavic myth — reportedly did $3-5 billion in damage to a Russian bomb factory near Nizhny Novgorod, about 900 kilometers east of the Ukrainian border.

The Ukrainian publication Babel.ua was granted special access to the 14th Separate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Regiment, which is running the Horynych program. By modifying ultralight civilian aircraft, this regiment has been able to convert them into long-range unmanned bombers to strike at Russia’s strategic economic and military pressure points, Babel.ua reported.

“Due to its operational range and the specific missions it undertakes, the Horynych aircraft can be classified as a strategic bomber,” Babel.ua wrote. “Of course, this term has never been applied to aircraft of this class, as they appear completely incompatible.”

And yet.

No option but to innovate

While tactical-scale battles play out across the vast front line, the strategic battle is happening in the sky. Ukrainian military manufacturing is so dispersed, Russia would have a hard time delivering a knockout blow. Instead, Moscow is trying to terrorize Ukrainians into losing heart by targeting their civilian infrastructure, homes, and public spaces.

The Ukrainians have meanwhile focused on suppressing Russia’s hydrocarbon lifeline, by hitting its refineries, causing fuel shortages and dropping export revenues. Ukraine is also opportunistically targeting Russia’s larger, more centralized production lines that pump out matériel for its war effort.

The Horynych is one of these innovations. According to the Babel article, it is based on the Skyranger, a French ultralight one-seater, with a gasoline engine and a standard layout that costs about $50,000 on the open market. Instead of a pilot's seat, the Horynych cockpit mounts more fuel tanks and batteries that power the nav and comms systems.

The main armament of the first unit that attacked the factory near Nizhny Novgorod was a small Soviet-era OFAB-100-120 bomb, that normally has a high explosive payload of 42 kilograms. A larger option, the OFAB-250, carries roughly 100 kg of explosives and weighs about 120 kilograms.

The plane also dropped two 120 mm mortar shells, then finally kamikazed its airframe, detonating a thermobaric device, plus whatever fuel remained in the tanks, to wipe out its tech and deny analysis. But the plane itself doesn’t have to necessarily go out in a blaze of glory like that — Babel reported that it’s able to return and land autonomously when operationally possible.

The military personnel told Babel that engineers and pilots have figured out how to fly through satellite jamming zones and evade fire from Russia’s workhorse air defense systems: the Buk, the Pantsir, and the S-300.

After the first impact on 5 October, another Horynych attacked the same Russian factory shortly after, followed by seven more launched from a different airfield.

The unit that operates them, the 14th UAV Regiment, has all of its operations classified, despite granting interviews over the years.

The 14th is commanded by one “Charlie,” formerly of the 3rd Special Operations Forces, and employs other special ops in its ranks. The regiment is dedicated to strategic strikes deep into Russian territory, although it also uses tactical level drones with shorter ranges.

The 14th reportedly clears a path by sending out recon drones, finding enemy radar and air defense systems, getting them to fire on decoy drones, and then target these installations with attack drones. This leaves room for units like the Horynych to do their work.

Ukrainian deep strikes growing in volume

This work, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dubbed “long-range sanctions,” has intensified since late summer. Various Ukrainian drones are hitting Russian targets “practically every day,” the President said on 19 October.

The attacks reportedly crippled over 38% of Moscow's refining capacity and forced the Kremlin to suspend fuel exports while simultaneously preparing to import refined products. Shipments dropped to 7.58 million metric tons, down 17.1% from August, reflecting reduced fuel production following unplanned outages at several major refining facilities.

Among those targeted were Surgutneftegaz’s Kirishinefteorgsintez, Lukoil’s Volgograd refinery, and Rosneft’s Samara group of refineries.

Russia’s seaborne oil product exports fell by more than 17% in September, according to industry data cited by Reuters.

The International Energy Agency estimates the attacks have cut Russia's refining output by 500,000 barrels per day, with facilities unlikely to recover before mid-2026 even without accounting for future strikes.