- The campaign of medium and long-range drones on Russian soil
- The brake on the Russian offensive and the strategy change in Donbas
- From international dependence to 5,000 monthly attacks
- The isolation of Crimea and the gasoline crisis
- Hybrid war: minors recruited via Telegram to commit assassinations
- “Ukraine, a treasure at war”: the destruction of heritage in images
In this scenario of attrition, the army of President Volodymyr Zelensky maintains a continuous campaign of drone attacks that is managing to deeply affect Russian territory. A paradigmatic example is the Crimea peninsula, almost isolated by land and where fuel is already scarce for the civilian population.
The evolution of the conflict is analyzed with María Senovilla, journalist, photographer, and war correspondent collaborating with the magazine Atalayar, who explains the impact of this military strategy and undercover operations at the front.
The campaign of medium and long-range drones on Russian soil
What real impact are the drone attacks launched by Ukraine inside Russia having?
Ukraine continues its tactic of using medium and long-range drones against Russian soil, and the effects are beginning to show. In recent weeks, attacks have been recorded against dozens of Russian cities stretching to the Moscow and Saint Petersburg regions, where Ukraine bombed an oil refinery just a few days ago.
Additionally, there is another medium-distance offensive specifically targeting roads and logistical routes through which Russia transports its military supplies, heavy equipment, troops, and everything necessary to fight on the combat front. This logistical blockade causes havoc in the Russian rear, compounded by the Kremlin forces continuing to block access to the internet via the Starlink network in those areas.
A man walks next to a damaged building during Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the city of Kramatorsk, located on the front line in the Donetsk region (Ukraine), on May 27, 2026 – REUTERS/ ALINA SMUTKO
The brake on the Russian offensive and the strategy change in Donbas
Has this strategy managed to halt the Kremlin’s military plans?
Indeed. These medium-range attacks are part of a campaign involving continuous small impacts. They are not traditional large-scale offensives but synchronized actions executed simultaneously across multiple logistical routes. The direct result is that the Russian army has been prevented from supplying itself sufficiently to launch its usual spring offensive.
Both in May and so far this month, Russia has not been able to launch its usual spring offensive anywhere on the front, not even in the Donbas region, where the pressure is historic. Faced with the inability to advance on the ground at the firing line, the Russian army focuses on intensifying the siege and bombing major cities in the rear because it is the only option left. Right now, its attacks are directed at the two major strongholds under Ukrainian control in that area: Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.
A Ukrainian soldier of the 47th Independent Mechanized Brigade «Magura» drives an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle in a position near the frontline, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Zaporizhia region, Ukraine, June 26, 2023 – REUTERS/ RFE/RL/ SERHII NUZHENKO
From international dependence to 5,000 monthly attacks
How has Ukraine managed to sustain such a high volume of its own armament production?
For this medium-range campaign to be viable, Ukraine has had to develop an internal military industry and produce its own drones in very large quantities. This is something soldiers and officers in the trenches mentioned a couple of years ago.
When asked what was needed for the war to take a definitive turn, they insisted that they could only take the initiative—instead of staying defensive and waiting for help—when Ukraine manufactured its own weapons and ceased total dependence on international aid. That key moment has now arrived, allowing Ukraine to launch an impressive figure of more than 5,000 medium and long-range attacks per month.
International analysts agree that this is a completely new phase of the war. Russia no longer feels safe in its own territory seeing how the war reaches hundreds of kilometers from the close combat line. The current scenario is one where these long-distance attacks are starting to wear down Russia’s ability to sustain the conflict and affect Vladimir Putin’s political environment.
A near-infrared satellite image showing smoke rising from the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga after a Ukrainian attack, in Ust-Luga, Leningrad Oblast, on March 27, 2026 – Vantor/Image provided via REUTERS
The isolation of Crimea and the gasoline crisis
What exactly is happening in the Crimea peninsula after the latest Ukrainian attacks?
The clearest example is Crimea. The peninsula has become almost isolated, and fuel is critically scarce. It must be remembered that Crimea has only two connections with Russia: the Kerch Bridge, through which the peninsula was invaded and occupied in 2014; and a highway bordering the Sea of Azov, part of the Ukrainian territories that Russia occupied during the first months of the large-scale invasion in 2022.
After consolidating this land route in 2022, Russian logistics were greatly facilitated. However, since Ukraine started to systematically impact with medium-range drones such as Hornet types, the situation changed. The flow of fuel trucks has been decimated: Ukraine has managed to reduce the flow of supply and fuel trucks from nearly 4,000 vehicles per month to just over 1,000. The peninsula has literally run out of gasoline, and the pro-Russian government in Crimea has had to restrict its sale to the civilian population.
The big question is whether the civilian population will continue to endure this war silently, which impacts them more every day, or if Putin will face a new front in the form of internal social protests that pressure him critically.
Fire and a dense smoke column rise near the Razan oil refinery amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, in Ryazan, Ryazan region, Russia, May 15, 2026, in this screenshot captured from a social media video – PHOTO/ SOCIAL MEDIA via REUTERS
Hybrid war: minors recruited via Telegram to commit assassinations
The head of the Ukrainian police denounced the recruitment of young women. How do these networks operate?
It is a terrible reality. The police chief states that Russia recruits young women, even minors, to assassinate Ukrainian soldiers. Russian intelligence services recruit these teenagers through Telegram, using this messaging network to coordinate.
Six cases have been reported this year of Ukrainian teenage girls who killed soldiers following precise instructions received from Russian agents via mobile phone. The Ukrainian police thwarted the latest assassination attempt in this series. Upon intercepting the minor, a sabotage network was fully uncovered, linked to the hybrid war and Russian intelligence covert operations.
On their side, Russian security services accuse Ukraine of doing something similar: recruiting people inside Russia and offering money in exchange for carrying out bomb attacks against Russian officers on Russian soil. Several such cases have already been reported, and it is expected that more actions from both sides will continue to appear.
In response, the Ukrainian army has warned its soldiers not to trust young women recently met or extremely interested in them. It is unlikely that young Ukrainians will stop meeting other girls when they have the chance, as it is normal, but they must be aware that in the real world, such perfect coincidences only happen in movies.
Photo holding a smartphone next to a screen displaying the logo with two crossed ‘T’s from the Telegram messaging app, with the Russian national flag as background – REUTERS/ RAMIL SITDIKOV
“Ukraine, a treasure at war”: the destruction of heritage in images
You present a conference and your own photographic exhibition in Murcia. What reality do you convey in this show?
A photographic exhibition was presented, which will officially open on June 26 and can be visited until July 19 outdoors on Alfonso X el Sabio promenade, one of the main avenues of Murcia.
The exhibit gathers images of what Ukraine was like before the war, showing its cultural, historical, and natural heritage, contrasted with how the destruction caused by Russia’s large-scale invasion is leaving it. The photographic series provides direct testimonies of the daily war crimes recorded with the camera in rear cities and in Kyiv, the capital, which suffers systematic attacks.
The aim is to keep the war in Ukraine present in the minds of Europeans. The conflict has already exceeded 1,568 days, longer than World War I, and although it no longer constantly makes newspaper headlines due to informational saturation by other conflicts such as Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, or Sudan, it is a war on European soil. Looking away is not an option; the war is at the worst moment seen since the invasion began. This exhibition in Murcia, titled “Ukraine, a treasure at war,” is an excellent opportunity to recall what is at stake.