Russia begins rationing fuel after massive drone strike as Ukrainian tech trumps Putin’s jet drones

President Zelensky has confirmed reports that domestically produced jet interceptors have shot down Russian jet-powered drones for the first time, and this is a really significant development because there has been an exponential rise in the use of drones fired from Russia powered by turbo jet engines, which means they can travel at speeds of up to 600 kilometers an hour.

They're effectively cruise missiles, and they've been much, much harder for Ukraine to shoot down.

But this week we heard that Ukraine has tested four types of interceptors.

There are 10 others on trials.

We've seen evidence of two Russian drones being shot down by an unnamed type of interceptor and at least one Russian drone being shot down by a Sting S interceptor.

These are also effectively jet-powered, sometimes rail-launched interceptor drones, specifically designed to intercept, to shoot down the Russian drones.

These are air defense weapons, and they are an example of the leapfrogging evolution of military technologies.

When Russia was relying for so long on the slower propeller-powered Shahed and, uh, Gerbera Geran drones, Ukraine was using propeller-powered interceptors.

When those interceptors became effective and reduced the strike rate of Russian drones, Russia moved onto jet-powered, turbo jet-powered versions of those same drones, and Ukraine has had to adapt.

Adapt or die.

All of this comes as Ukraine continues its devastating campaign of long range strikes, the most spectacular of which was the largest ever strike on the Moscow region, hitting a Moscow oil refinery.

The mayor of Moscow said that that was a massive attack.

Russian officials saying that at least 450 drones were shot down.

We don't know how many reached their target, but incredible footage of fireballs and infernos raging over that refinery.

That wasn't the only strike.

We've also seen reports of Rostov-on-Don airfield hit for the second night in a row.

You'll remember that's where Ukraine said it destroyed a number of airfields in last week's episode.

And also on the 24th of September, Ukraine claimed that it hit the Kuibyshev refinery in Samara.

That's some 600 miles inside Russian territory.

And this week, Krasnodar, the Russian oblast of Krasnodar has declared a state of emergency because of the cumulative effect of Ukrainian strikes on its grain export infrastructure.

Both sides in this conflict have been hitting grain export infrastructure in order to try and damage each other's economy.

But the other consequence, the consequence of this ongoing campaign against Russian oil refineries, which is having international repercussions, has been the reintroduction of petrol rationing across Russia, and that's been reported today by The Moscow Times.

Worth remembering The Moscow Times, in an English language, uh, news outlet, which is actually based in exile in Amsterdam, but they report that in Kaluga, which is southwest of Moscow, uh, authorities have reintroduced a system known as odd-even, where effectively your number plate starts with an odd number, you're allowed to fill up one day, and if your number plate on your vehicle starts with an even number, you're allowed to fill up the next day.

And they've banned containers, they've banned jerry cans.

You're only allowed to put petrol or diesel directly into a vehicle.