A Ukrainian drone has struck a Russian industrial plant 800 miles from Ukraine, a local official said, after Kyiv prioritised the weapon’s development and Russia pounded Ukraine with a record number of drones last month.
Both sides have raced to improve drone technology and enhance their use on the battlefield, deploying increasingly sophisticated and deadlier drones, turning the war into a testing ground for the new weaponry.
Ukraine is under severe strain from a Russian push at places on the 620-mile front line, but analysts say its defences are largely holding firm. With recent direct talks delivering no progress on US-led international efforts to halt the fighting, Moscow and Kyiv are bulking up their arsenals.
A damaged apartment building in Kyiv (Efrem Lukatsky/AP) (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)
Russia launched 5,438 drones at Ukraine in June, a monthly record, according to official data collated by the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone hit an industrial plant in Izhevsk, about 620 miles east of Moscow, injuring several people and starting a fire, Izhevsk regional governor Alexander Brechalov said. The plant’s workers were evacuated, he added.
Ukraine has for months been using domestically produced long-range drones to strike plants, storage sites and logistical hubs deep inside Russian territory.
Andrii Kovalenko, head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine’s Security Council, said Tuesday’s target was a local plant producing Russian drones and air defence systems.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s domestic production of drones is about to increase in response to Russia’s expanded barrages.
“The priority is drones, interceptor drones and long-range strike drones,” he said late on Monday.
“This is extremely important,” he added. “Russia is investing in its unmanned capabilities, Russia is planning to increase the number of drones used in strikes against our state. We are preparing our countermeasures.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Jaimi Joy/PA)
Russia’s Defence Ministry said 60 Ukrainian drones were downed overnight over several regions, including 17 over Crimea, 16 over the Rostov region and four over the Saratov region.
At the same time, four Russian Shahed drones struck the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzia during the night, leaving more than 1,600 households without power, according to authorities.
Ukraine’s air force said on Tuesday that Russia fired 52 Shahed and decoy drones at the country overnight.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, criticised Moscow for continuing to strike civilian areas of Ukraine while effectively rejecting a ceasefire and dragging its feet on a peace settlement.
“We urge an immediate ceasefire and a move to trilateral talks to end the war,” he said late on Monday. “Russia cannot continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine.”
Ukraine is developing its own defence industry as uncertainty remains over whether the Trump administration will continue to provide crucial military aid.
Between March and April, the US allocated no new aid to Ukraine, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute.
European support has surpassed the US in total military aid for the first time since June 2022, totalling 72 billion euros (£61 billion) compared with 65 billion euros (£55 billion) from the US, the institute said last month.