{"id":891820,"date":"2026-06-25T13:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/891820\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T13:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:18:18","slug":"russia-shifts-air-defenses-to-moscow-as-ukraine-drones-strike-deep-zelenskyy-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/891820\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia shifts air defenses to Moscow as Ukraine drones strike deep, Zelenskyy says"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russia is moving a significant part of its air defenses to protect a handful of prime targets, including Moscow, as Ukraine\u2019s long-range drones continue to hammer sites<\/a> deep inside the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.<\/p>\n

In new overnight strikes, meanwhile, Zelenskyy said Thursday that Kyiv\u2019s forces hit two more Russian oil refineries in Ufa, 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from the front line, and an oil depot in the Krasnodar region, 300 kilometers (180 miles) from Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has in recent months stepped up its aerial campaign against Russian military installations and energy facilities<\/a>. Its success has caused fuel shortages<\/a> and disrupted army supply lines, stalling Moscow\u2019s full-scale invasion of its neighbor<\/a> after more than four years of fighting and rattling Russian officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said in his daily address late Wednesday that Russia is moving more air defenses to the capital as well as to Valdai, a town some 500 kilometers (300 miles) northwest of Moscow where Russian President Vladimir Putin has a residence, and to protect the Kerch Bridge, a vital supply route connecting the Crimean Peninsula with the Russian mainland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Moscow region alone, they have amassed hundreds of launchers\u201d for air defense missiles, Zelenskyy said. \u201cNearly 90 launchers have been redeployed to Valdai from other regions of Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was not possible to independently verify Zelenskyy\u2019s claims, which portrayed the Russian leadership as caring more about protecting itself than other cities and towns in the vast country. Russian officials made no immediate comment.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian drones have recently hit Moscow<\/a> and St. Petersburg<\/a>, Russia\u2019s second-largest city and Putin\u2019s hometown. Ukraine is also trying to cut off Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia invaded and illegally annexed in 2014.<\/p>\n

The changes, Zelenskyy suggested, would leave other parts of Russia vulnerable to Ukraine\u2019s increasingly sophisticated long-range drones, which can now fly more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles).<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many difficulties (for Russia), all because Putin refuses to end his war and to hear our proposals for a meeting, genuine negotiations, and a dignified peace,\u201d Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump but Putin has refused, and a year of U.S.-led peace efforts<\/a> made no significant headway.<\/p>\n

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Trump praises Zelenskyy<\/p>\n

Western officials and analysts say Ukraine\u2019s prospects have improved after more than four years of a grueling war of attrition as its domestic development and production of cutting-edge drones pin down the bigger Russian army.<\/p>\n

Trump, who previously has been critical of Zelenskyy, said Wednesday that the Ukrainian leader is \u201ccourageous\u201d and \u201cdoing pretty well\u201d in the war.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said he won pledges of sustained foreign support when he attended a recent summit of G7 leaders<\/a>, including Trump, and that promised aid will help further help Ukraine\u2019s intensified campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur operation, including the one concerning Crimea, has been carefully planned, and the way it is unfolding clearly demonstrates that if Ukraine receives exactly what we discussed with our partners at the G7 \u2014 and that depends on our partners\u2019 decisions \u2014 we will quickly create conditions in which Russia will be forced to choose peace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe very much hope for a positive response from our partners,\u201d Zelenskyy added. \u201cThey know exactly what we are talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukraine is wary of its neighbor Belarus<\/p>\n

Belarus<\/a>, whose manufacturing plants have played a key role in supporting Moscow\u2019s war effort, appears to have turned off signal repeaters on its soil that Kyiv says were used to help guide Russian drone attacks on Ukraine. Moscow launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine from Belarus.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy demanded last week that Belarus, which borders Ukraine to the north and also shares a frontier with Russia, remove the relay equipment that enabled Moscow\u2019s drones to strike western Ukraine. He threatened to take action against the relay stations, presumably with a military strike that could bring the countries into direct conflict.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian intelligence has determined that the repeaters are now off, Zelenskyy said in a message sent to journalists.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian military officials on Wednesday ordered a mandatory evacuation for the approximately 1,000 people still in the Chernihiv region bordering Russia and Belarus starting July 1.<\/p>\n

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is walking a fine line in the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cLukashenko continues to stall and deflect the Kremlin\u2019s intensified attempts to drag Belarus into the war in Ukraine while maintaining relatively neutral rhetoric towards Ukraine,\u201d the institute said.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi<\/a>, the commander of the armed forces, said last week that Ukraine is strengthening defenses on its northern border, including creating new army drone units there.<\/p>\n

Russia targets Ukraine\u2019s civilian gas stations<\/p>\n

Russia launched a ballistic missile and 90 long-range drones at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said.<\/p>\n

One drone struck a gas station Thursday in Ukraine\u2019s northeastern Sumy region, injuring four people, said regional administration head Oleh Hryhorov, adding that Russian forces have attacked the region\u2019s gas stations 13 times in June alone.<\/p>\n

A Russian overnight strike in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia injured one woman and damaged a gas station, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 269 Ukrainian drones from late Wednesday until early Thursday.<\/p>\n

Several Russian airports temporarily restricted flights overnight during drone attacks.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow the AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russia is moving a significant part of its air defenses to protect a handful…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":891821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[70221,25818,119186,69,56270,2568,57,321549,37593,8132,24531,50,80,3658,3657,273,3660,274,3656,96,103,107],"class_list":["post-891820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-alexander-lukashenko","tag-belarus","tag-belarus-government","tag-donald-trump","tag-drone-surveillance-and-warfare","tag-g7-summit","tag-general-news","tag-ivan-fedorov","tag-kyiv","tag-military-and-defense","tag-moscow","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-russia-government","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-government","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-war-and-unrest","tag-world","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116810947460357936","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/891821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}