Overview
- Hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved a 40‑day “influence operation,” Russia’s defence ministry said it intercepted about 660 Ukrainian drones overnight over a dozen regions including Moscow and occupied Crimea.
- Russian regional officials reported damage to an industrial site and a wounded civilian in the Tula area while Crimean authorities declared a region‑wide state of emergency and rationed fuel sales.
- Kyiv says the strikes hit strategic energy and logistics targets, including refineries in Ufa and an oil depot in Krasnodar, helping trigger fuel shortages and price spikes in more than 60 Russian regions.
- Ukraine’s campaign has forced Russia to redeploy air‑defence launchers toward high‑value sites such as Moscow, Valdai and the Kerch Bridge, which Kyiv says weakens protection elsewhere and strains Russian defences.
- The escalation is increasing political pressure inside Russia for harsher retaliation, raising risks of wider confrontation while Western leaders and NATO prepare decisions on further military aid.