they are protected by geography in that sense that any long range attack is a bespoke affair, uses rare and costly weapons and requires coordination of many assets. considering its value it could be expected that there are some GBAD nearby, and long distance makes it more likely for drones to be shot down by russian jets, like it’s done more commonly in western doctrine. i think it’s probable that long range strikes are only conducted when ukrainians have intelligence about weakened air defences