Though additional evidence wasn’t needed as confirmation, the nocturnal barrage of strikes on multiple areas inside Russia overnight Wednesday was another clear reminder of the extent to which Ukraine relies on military and adapted enterprise and consumer drones to successfully battle against Moscow’s invasion.
News reports during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday detailed drone strikes by Ukraine of six different regions inside Russia. Those represented perhaps the strongest sign yet of Kyiv’s intention to take the war Moscow unilaterally launched in February 2022 back to its source.
Read: Exclusive: Insiders describe Ukraine operation preparing drone strikes inside Russia
The series of attacks were carried out in flurries of four hours or more, forcing airports in the Russian capital and western city of Pskov to halt all air traffic.
The multiplication and intensity of the aerial operation created the desired psychological siege response from many civilians in affected areas, even though media accounts indicate military facilities were primary targets.
Though not as strategically damaging as the jet fighters struck in weekend strikes credited to Ukraine’s Australia-supplied cardboard Carvo drones, Wednesday’s aerial salvoes did claim four Il-76 military transport planes.
Read more: Aussie cardboard drones credited with Ukraine’s destruction of Russian jet fighters
They also provoked explosions and fireballs designed to share with ordinary Russians the kind of terror their leaders have been inflicting on millions of Ukrainians for over 18 months.
Russia unleashed a drone and missile barrage of its own on Kyiv around the same time overnight Wednesday – killing two people and injuring three. But Ukraine presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak responded to the overlapping events by warning Russians to acclimate themselves to the same terrifying aerial attacks that Ukrainians have been forced to defend against for months on end.
“The war is increasingly moving to #Russia‘s territory, and it cannot be stopped,” Podolyak tweeted, as Ukraine’s broader counter-offensive to retake land within its own borders continued advancing. “This is a consequence of the lost frontline component (Russia has long been fighting only in numbers and only in defense, despite all propaganda myths) and the lack of realistic power control systems in the regions (including air defense).”
Western allies have tended to oppose Kyiv striking inside Russia on fears that increases the risk Moscow may eventually excessively retaliate, including possible use of nuclear arms.
Yet while military imports from backers have allowed Ukraine to successfully push the invasion back within its own borders, the nation’s dramatic increase in domestic drone production – and repurposing of small consumer and enterprise UAVs – now provides it with a reach into Russia it is not going to relinquish.
Read: Ukraine flexes drone muscle as counteroffensive accelerates
Even, as Podolyak somewhat disingenuously argues, if those somewhat oxymoronic aerial defensive offensives won’t rely on drones Ukraine has received from Western allies.
“#Ukraine strictly adheres to the obligation not to use the weapons of its partners to strike Russian territory and acts exclusively within the principles of defensive war,” he tweeted. “Calls to avoid any strikes on the legal territory of (Russia) look strange and still continue to encourage the (Russian Federation) to continue its aggression.
Still, as Podolyak then effectively acknowledged, Ukraine’s objective with its drone strikes inside Russia is not to atomize Moscow’s enormous military power. Instead, it seeks to goad shaken Russia populations to assign blame for the open-ended aerial campaign to President Vladimir Putin and his unilaterally launched and pursued invasion.
“So, as long as Putin remains president, the war will continue,” Podolyak said, “(p)ulling Russia deeper and deeper into the abyss of chaos.”
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