European missile systems manufacturer MBDA and Ukrainian defense company Ukrainian Armor have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore joint development of deep-strike systems and counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), marking a new phase of industrial cooperation linked to the war in Ukraine, MBDA announced on 10 June.

MBDA expands cooperation with Ukraine’s defense industry

MBDA is one of Europe’s leading defense firms specializing in guided missile systems across air, land, and naval domains. It is also the maker of the Storm Shadow / SCALP-EG cruise missile, which has been supplied to Ukraine by European partners for long-range strike missions.

Ukrainian Armor is a domestic Ukrainian defense manufacturer involved in producing armored vehicles, artillery systems, ammunition, and unmanned platforms, and has expanded significantly since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Cooperation to focus on long-range strike systems and counter-drone technologies

The agreement sets out a framework for long-term cooperation, including joint development projects, technology exchange, and potential co-production initiatives, with the possibility of establishing a future joint venture.

The focus is on two priority areas: “deep strike” capabilities for long-range precision attacks, and counter-unmanned aerial systems designed to detect and neutralize drones, which have become central to battlefield dynamics in Ukraine.

Ukraine to strengthen domestic defense production with European expertise

MBDA said the partnership is intended to help strengthen Ukraine’s independent industrial capacity, while leveraging European experience in advanced missile and air defense systems. Ukrainian Armor will contribute production capability and operational experience across armored vehicles, munitions, and unmanned systems developed under wartime conditions.

Both sides said the cooperation aims to combine European technological expertise with Ukrainian battlefield-driven innovation, creating a framework for deeper defense-industrial integration.

Russia has removed the International Aviation and Space Salon (MAKS) from its 2026 exhibition calendar, effectively cancelling the event for a fourth consecutive year and pushing its return to 2027, according to a government order cited by The Moscow Times.

The exhibition was once a flagship showcase for Russia’s aviation and defense industry, drawing international delegations and major arms manufacturers. Its continued suspension highlights how the war has increasingly affected even symbolic elements of Russia’s defense sector.

The decision also affects the Hydroaviasalon air show, which has been shifted to the same year. No official reason was given for the move.

MAKS repeatedly postponed since 2021 amid wartime disruptions

MAKS, traditionally held at Zhukovsky airfield near Moscow, was last staged in person in 2021, prior to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, it has been repeatedly downgraded or postponed, with online-only formats replacing physical displays in 2024–2025.

The cancellation comes as Russia continues to scale back or relocate major public and symbolic events under what officials describe as a “security situation” linked to the war, The Moscow Times reports.

Ukrainian deep-strike campaign increasingly reaches Moscow region

In recent months, Ukrainian long-range drone operations have increasingly reached Moscow and the surrounding oblast, targeting infrastructure tied to military production and logistics. 

Strikes reported in May hit industrial sites in and around the capital, including facilities linked to electronics and fuel distribution networks, while Russian authorities have acknowledged repeated drone incursions over the wider Moscow area.

Expanding reach of Ukraine’s long-range strike strategy

Analysts say the pattern reflects a broader shift in Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign, which has expanded from border regions and occupied territories to more frequent attempts to penetrate central Russian air defense layers. The goal is not only economic pressure, but also disruption of systems tied to command, production, and energy supply.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on the MAKS decision, but Kyiv has repeatedly framed long-range strikes as a response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

The suspension of MAKS also follows a wider trend of reduced large-scale public events in Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including scaled-back national celebrations and security-restricted gatherings in Moscow.

Ukraine's Defense Forces set major fuel and petrochemical plants deep inside Russia on fire and hit military targets along the front overnight on 12 June, according to Ukraine's General Staff. Fires broke out at refineries in Tatarstan and a rubber plant in Samara Oblast, while monitoring channels reported strikes in occupied Crimea. The raid forced one Russian city to cancel its Russia Day celebrations.

Two refineries burn in Nizhnekamsk

Units of Ukraine's Defense Forces struck the TANECO and TAIF-NK oil refineries in Nizhnekamsk, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. The General Staff confirmed hits and fires at both plants. TANECO ranks among Russia's largest refineries, with a design capacity of over 16 million tons of oil per year. It produces diesel, aviation fuel, and other petroleum products. The plant lies more than 1,100 km from Ukraine's border.

Russian news Telegram channel Astra found at least three separate fires at TANECO in its OSINT analysis of eyewitness footage. Astra's source said the ELOU AVT-9 primary oil processing unit and the ELOU AVT-8 column were burning. The channel called TANECO one of Russia's most efficient refineries, with a refining depth of 99.6%. Monitoring Telegram channel Supernova+ published footage of two large fires with thick black smoke at the plant. Preliminary data pointed to damage at two primary processing units and a tank farm.

TAIF-NK, the second refinery hit, processes heavy high-sulfur crude and gas condensate at a declared refining depth above 95%, the General Staff noted. Its output runs from mass-market fuel to feedstock for petrochemicals and military needs. 

Russia Day canceled as a petrochemical giant burns

Tatarstan declared a drone danger regime at 3 a.m., and the airports of Kazan and Nizhnekamsk restricted flights. Residents of Nizhnekamsk then reported powerful explosions across the city. Nizhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belyaev stated the city canceled all festivities for Russia Day, the state holiday marked on 12 June.

Monitoring Telegram channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ tracked the night's fires. Monitoring channels also reported a hit on Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNH), one of Europe's largest petrochemical complexes, located in the same city. The SIBUR-owned plant processes feedstock from TANECO and TAIF-NK into synthetic rubbers, plastics, and ethylene, Astra said.

Rubber for Russian missile fuel burns in Tolyatti

Ukrainian forces also hit the Tolyattikauchuk plant in Tolyatti, Samara Oblast, Russia. The General Staff confirmed the strike and a fire at the site. The plant makes synthetic rubbers used, among other things, in producing solid rocket fuel for tactical and ballistic missiles, plus monomers, fractions, and high-octane gasoline additives.

Astra reported that Tolyattikauchuk, part of the Tatneft group, is listed in a closed registry of defense enterprises kept by Russia's Industry and Trade Ministry. Its rubbers go into tires for military vehicles and components for the aviation industry, the channel said. 

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Russia’s oil production falls for sixth straight month as Ukrainian drone strikes hit storage and transport

Tolyatti Mayor Ilya Sukhikh stated that one industrial facility took damage from what he called a drone fall during a massive Ukrainian drone attack. Samara Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said nobody was hurt in the attack on the region.

Russia's crude oil production fell in May to its lowest level in a year, with Ukraine's record-setting drone campaign against oil infrastructure playing a major role, Bloomberg reported. The decline, now running for half a year, cuts into the mineral extraction tax — the main channel through which oil fills the federal budget that finances the war, the Russian-language Moscow Times noted.

Output slides for half a year, far below the OPEC+ quota

Russia averaged 9.009 million barrels of crude a day in May, OPEC's monthly report shows. Daily output last peaked in November at 9.38 million barrels and has shrunk every month since, losing roughly 370,000 barrels, the Moscow Times wrote. The May figure sits 690,000 barrels a day short of what the OPEC+ deal obliges Russia to pump, Bloomberg calculated. The data excludes condensate, and April's level was revised slightly lower.

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All three Rosneft Samara refineries now offline or reduced as drones halt Kuibyshevsky operations yesterday

The Ukrainian strikes have been disabling oil storage and transportation capacity. That shortage, combined with underinvestment, reduces the volume of crude Russia extracts. Bloomberg observed that while the latest monthly drop marks a slowdown against previous months, it will likely keep weighing on oil markets. Oil prices stay elevated amid the continuing Middle East conflict, and Russia ranks among the world's three biggest crude producers whose barrels bypass the Strait of Hormuz, shut in practice since the Iran war erupted.

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Russia’s fuel crisis jumps from 15 to 25 regions in five days—plus six occupied Ukrainian areas

A record month of strikes crushes refining

Ukraine sharply intensified its May campaign against Russian oil sites, logging at least 31 strikes on refineries, seaborne export terminals, and pipelines, Bloomberg counted — the highest monthly count since the full-scale invasion, as Kyiv works to cut the Kremlin's income from elevated crude prices. Because most strikes targeted fuel-producing facilities, Russian refining collapsed to its 2009 level in May. So far this month, Russia's refining runs have fallen to a two-decade low, EA Analytics, part of consultancy Energy Aspects, estimates.

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Russian crude reaches the sea through tunnels under a mountain ridge—and Ukraine hit the storage end near Novorossiysk

Exports rise while the budget's tax base shrinks

The gasoline shortage behind the fuel crisis in a number of Russian regions led producers to redirect more crude to export markets. The Baltic and Black Sea ports damaged in the first two months of spring have been repaired. Seaborne crude exports averaged 3.64 million barrels a day over the four weeks ending 31 May, Bloomberg's tanker-tracking data show. That compares with 3.17 million barrels daily over the four-week stretch to 17 April, when Ukrainian forces actively bombed ports and export terminals.

The Moscow Times notes that the export shift allows companies and intermediaries who retain significant sums from sales abroad to raise their incomes. The federal budget that pays for the war, though, is filled above all by the mineral extraction tax, so falling production hits government revenue directly.

Economic activity in Portugal recorded a 5.1% decline on June 3, the day of the general strike, marking the sharpest contraction on a working day since the general strike in

The post General strike cut Portugal’s economic activity by 5.1% appeared first on Portugal Resident.

Ukrainian drones forced Rosneft's Kuybyshevsky oil refinery in Samara Oblast, Russia, to halt oil processing on 10 June, Reuters reported. The strike puts all three plants in the Rosneft Samara refining hub out of full operation at the same time.

Reuters confirms processing halt at both primary units

Reuters cited two industry sources to confirm that processing stopped at both AVT-4 and AVT-5 after the strike. Each unit has a nominal processing capacity of about 73,000 barrels of crude oil (10,000 metric tons) per day. The hits caused damage and subsequent fires at both. 

Samara Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev claimed a massive overnight drone attack injured three people and caused "damage to several industrial facilities." 

An earlier report on 10 June described fires at the Kuybyshevsky refinery after the strike.

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Fire reported at Kuibyshev oil refinery in Russia’s Samara after drone strike

Plant size and output

Kuybyshevsky's 2024 crude oil throughput was 4.7 million tons, equal to 94,400 barrels a day, Reuters reported. That year's output included 0.8 million tons of gasoline, 1.4 million tons of diesel, and 1.3 million tons of fuel oil. Nominal capacity stands at 7 million tons per year. The plant is one of the largest oil refining facilities in the Volga region. It also supplies fuel for the Russian army.

The Kuybyshevsky plant was also previously hit in January 2026, August 2025, and in March 2024. The earlier strikes damaged equipment and forced production cycles to stop.

Same night: Cheboksary defense plant struck

The same night, Ukrainian forces also struck the VNIIR-Progress plant in Cheboksary, Chuvashia, which was previously hit on 5 May. The factory makes "Kometa" antennas that protect Russian drones from electronic warfare. It also makes satellite receivers for GLONASS, GPS, and Galileo systems. Ukraine's General Staff said such modules are used in Shahed-type drones, Iskander and Kalibr missiles, and aerial bombs.

Meanwhile, today saw a strike on the Afipsky refinery in Krasnodar Krai. 

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Afipsky oil refinery burns again as Ukrainian drones return to Krasnodar Krai

By May 2026, Ukrainian drones had taken six of ten Russian refineries hit during that month offline. Russian media counted 24 of Russia's 33 largest refineries struck since 2022. Only the Omsk and Angarsk plants east of the Urals remain untouched so far.

Russia's gasoline crisis has spread to 25 of its own regions and six occupied Ukrainian ones, the Russian-language Moscow Times reported on 10 June. Six days earlier, the count stood at 15. Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries hit a wartime monthly record in May 2026, dropping Russian refining loading well below the start of the year.

From 15 regions to 25 in under a week

The Russian Telegram channel 7×7 counted at least 25 Russian regions facing gasoline shortages and supply disruptions as of 10 June. Less than a week earlier, on 4 June, the number stood at 15. Restrictions also apply across six Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions: Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Bloomberg counted 38 Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries from January through May 2026. May alone saw 16 — the highest monthly figure of the war. According to OilX, Russian refinery loading has dropped 14% since the start of the year and stays roughly 20% below pre-war levels.

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Afipsky oil refinery burns again as Ukrainian drones return to Krasnodar Krai

Regional officials have responded unevenly. The acting governor of Belgorod Oblast, Alexander Shuvaev, acknowledged the shortage. Krasnodar Krai governor Veniamin Kondratyev called the situation "artificial hype." Residents publicly mocked the claim under his Telegram post, which was republished on a local channel. Gas stations in Krasnodar Krai have begun closing due to a shortage.

Fuel prices have spiked in occupied Crimea. On 10 June, AI-92 cost about $1.14 per liter, against $0.96 in Moscow. AI-95 traded near $1.25, up from $1.04 in the Russian capital. Resellers were offering fuel at $1.81-$2.08 per liter — about 50% above official Crimean prices.

On 8 June, Russia's Energy Ministry announced the creation of a task force to manage the fuel crisis, citing "growing enemy air attacks."

Occupied Sevastopol cancels fuel coupons after tankers fail to arrive

Sevastopol's Russian-installed governor said on 10 June that planned distribution of rationed petrol had been delayed, Reuters wrote on 11 June. Mikhail Razvozhayev claimed oil tanker trucks could not bring fuel into the city, following recent Ukrainian strikes on supply routes. Crimea, occupied by Russia in 2014, introduced fuel rationing last month due to shortages on the peninsula.

"Unfortunately, oil tanker trucks were unable to come to the city tonight," Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram. 

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Ukrainian drones knocking out the northwestern entrance to Crimea: four bridges targeted in one night

He said priority for refueling on 11 June would go to public transport, utilities, emergency vehicles, and government vehicles.

"I am addressing everyone: there is no point in lining up at... the gas stations tomorrow," he added late on 10 June. 

Existing rationing coupons would be canceled and new ones issued today.

Razvozhayev later claimed over two dozen Ukrainian drones were downed in the early hours of Thursday in a fresh attack on Sevastopol. The city is Crimea's second-largest and home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

On the same day, a major drone attack hit Russia's Volga region of Samara, more than 900 km from the front line, forcing state-owned oil giant Rosneft to halt processing at its Kuibyshevsky refinery.

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All three Rosneft Samara refineries now offline or reduced as drones halt Kuibyshevsky operations yesterday

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday evening that Ukraine’s recently launched mid-range strike campaign against Russian logistics, including large-scale strikes on supply and fuel trucks, had proved its worth.

"In recent months, we are especially grateful for the mid-strikes: Russian military logistics throughout the entire depth of the temporarily occupied territory are now within reach of Ukrainian drones," he said. "Our impact reaches Russia’s border regions as well. The enemy feels it, and we will continue to expand it."

Ukrainian drones struck four vehicular bridges at Crimea's northwestern entrance overnight on 11 June 2026, quisling official Vladimir Saldo claimed. The strikes are part of Ukraine's most recent mid-range strike push—now at its fourth day—reaching every road corridor between Crimea and mainland Ukraine. The same night, drone attacks also rolled across Sevastopol, Bakhchysarai, Saky, and other Crimean sites.

Four bridges damaged at the Armiansk isthmus

Saldo, the Russian-installed head of occupied Kherson Oblast, named the four targets on his Telegram. They include the automobile bridge in the Perekop-Armiansk area and a bridge near Stavky, Kherson Oblast. Two more bridges near Myrne and Preobrazhenka span the North Crimean Canal. Saldo stated all four spans sustained damage.

Three Crimean northern choke points hit in four days

Ukraine struck the Chonhar bridge on 7 and 9 June, closing Russia's main road link to occupied Crimea, yet the Russians reportedly installed a pontoon bridge next to the severely damaged crossing. On 10 June, Ukrainian drones hit the bridge from Henichesk to Arabat Spit. With both routes fully or partially shut, Russia had rerouted traffic through Armiansk and Perekop — the very corridor struck overnight. DeepState analysts noted that Ukrainian strikes on the bridges are an important part of the blockade of occupied southern Ukraine.

Not only an entrance, but also targets across the peninsula

Russia's occupation governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, claimed 32 drones were shot down over Sevastopol between 22:00 and midnight. He claimed the drones fell near Sevastopol Bay, Cape Fiolent, and Balaklava. The city declared two air alerts during the night and the morning.

Monitoring Telegram channel Krymsky Veter reported machine-gun fire in Pishchane at 21:40 and in Andriivka shortly after, citing subscribers. 

"At 21:40 a machine gun started firing in Pishchane, at 21:48 a machine gun started in Andriivka, after which an anti-aircraft gun fired a couple of bursts," the channel wrote. 

Detonations followed near Cape Fiolent, in Sevastopol, and later in Bakhchysarai. By morning, Krymsky Veter reported explosions and shooting in Saky.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed the destruction of 330 drones over Russia and the occupied territories in the same overnight period.

Update

The First Assault Brigade shared the footage of the strikes:

Ukrainian drones struck the Afipsky oil refinery in Russia's Krasnodar Krai overnight on 11 June, sparking a fire later extinguished, according to the Krasnodar Krai operational headquarters. The southern Russian plant, repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian strikes, supplies fuel to the Russian military.

A blaze at one of southern Russia's largest refineries

The Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ posted footage from local witnesses showing air defense fire and a blaze. The attack started after midnight, with residents reporting drone overflights and explosions at intervals of a few minutes. 

Krasnodar Krai authorities claimed drone "debris" fell in the village of Afipsky and set the refinery on fire — Moscow's standard framing for Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy targets. The fire was out by 07:32 Moscow time, the operational headquarters later stated. Russian authorities reported no casualties at the plant itself.

The plant runs two primary oil distillation units with capacities of 9,786 and 8,829 tons per day. It is export-oriented and does not currently produce gasoline or diesel for Russia's domestic market. Combined throughput at the Afipsky plant and the affiliated Krasnodar refinery reached 7.2 million tons in 2024. Another 3 million tons were processed in the first half of 2025.

Third strike on Afipsky in 2026 amid wider drone campaign

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 330 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight, the Moscow Times reported. According to the ministry, drones were spotted over Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod, Oryol, Smolensk, Kaluga, Tula, Tver, Vladimir, and Moscow oblasts, as well as Krasnodar Krai and occupied Crimea. Russian aviation regulator Rosaviatsia restricted operations at airports in Tambov, Krasnodar, Sochi, Gelendzhik, and Zhukovsky outside Moscow.

The 11 June raid was the third attack on the Afipsky refinery this year, following hits on 21 January and 14 March. During the March hit, drones damaged the AT-22/4 primary oil processing unit at Afipsky — the plant's refining starting point. Satellite imagery had previously confirmed structural damage from a November 2025 drone attack.

Russian logisticians are desperately scrambling to save their truck convoys from Ukrainian drones. Besides rerouting convoys away from the most vulnerable highways, some commanders are also deploying mobile gun teams to escort the cargo trucks.

Whether those gun teams can shoot down enough drones to turn the tide of the escalating logistics war remains to be seen. How high the drones fly before they strike could make all the difference.

This spring, Ukrainian drone units launched an intensive campaign of strikes targeting the thousands of Russian trucks that, every day, shuttle supplies and reinforcements from depots deep in the rear area to front-line field armies. The aim: to weaken Russian regiments before they can launch an assault across the gray zone.

"We are launching a 'logistics lockdown' for the Russian army," Ukrainian defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced. "We are scaling middle-strike operations to systematically destroy enemy logistics and supply lines, stripping them of their capacity to mount offensive actions."

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Russia keeps four field armies fed through three southern towns. Ukraine’s drones just arrived.

The counterlogistics campaign, mostly carried out by Ukrainian drone units flying jam-resistant middle-strike drones with AI-assisted targeting—the $5,000 Swift Beat Hornet is one of the most common—initially targeted convoys traveling along the most obvious routes, including the west-to-east M-14 highway connecting southern Russia to occupied Crimea. The M-14 is the Ukrainian portion of the wider European E-58 highway.

By late May, the Ukrainian defense ministry was tallying hits on nearly 500 Russian trucks every day, a ninefold increase on the overall average of daily truck strikes since Russia widened its war on Ukraine in February 2022. Just 3,500 Russian cargo trucks plied the M-14 every day, so the losses were significant. For now, the Kremlin is able to make good its truck losses by redeploying vehicles from the active fleet.

But soon, it may have to tap the tens of thousands of older trucks sitting in long-term storage. And those decades-old trucks are in pretty bad shape. "Most of them are scrap metal husk, utterly impossible to reactivate," analyst Jompy noted.

Hardening the convoys

Clearly realizing they can't sustain the loss of 500 trucks a day, Russian commanders are getting creative. They've begun rerouting trucks away from the M-14 and sending them along back roads instead in order to spread them out and complicate the Ukrainians' drone sortie planning. Military traffic along the M-14 has dropped by 71% since late May as trucks follow alternate routes to forward bases, according to Robert Brovdi, commander of the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces.

But the Russians are also arming the truck convoys, which previously traveled without any defensive weapons. Observer Kim Hovik claimed they recently saw videos depicting Russian convoys that included as many as four trucks and utility vehicles carrying gunners.

Guns aren't the best defenses against drones, but the Russians don't have many other options. Electronic warfare systems that scramble drones' control signals don't work against drones with self-contained AI targeting systems that can spot and home in on trucks without any input from a remote operation.

And Russia's longer-range air defense systems, its fixed and mobile surface-to-air missile systems, have been ravaged by a parallel Ukrainian drone campaign specifically targeting air defenses. Between June 2025 and March 2026, Ukrainian drones blew up more than 400 radars and SAM systems: far more than Russia can replace in just nine months.

How well the gunners work against Hornets and other Ukrainian drones might depend on how high the drones fly while patrolling for trucks. Ukraine's own mobile gun teams were effective against Russian Shahed drones until the Shaheds began flying thousands of feet in the air. Now the Ukrainian gunners are "largely ineffective," according to a Ukrainian electronic warfare officer who goes by "Alchemist."

It's unclear how high a Hornet drone can cruise while still effectively scanning for trucks. Higher flights might be necessary, however. Ukrainian drone forces must adapt to Russian adaptation as the counterlogistics drone war grinds on.

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Russia is losing so many trucks it’s now eyeing Cold War scrap

Today, 10 June 2026, marks the 1,568th day of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine — exactly the same number of days that World War I lasted, ArmyInform observes. Russia has not achieved its strategic objectives to eliminate Ukraine, with the Kremlin's original "Kyiv in three days" planning now four years and three months past.

Russian losses across that period, as documented by Ukraine's General Staff, total more than 1.3 million Russian military personnel killed and wounded, tens of thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery pieces destroyed, and 33 Russian ships and boats sunk or destroyed.

The Black Sea Fleet is now operating only in a land-support capacity after Ukrainian strikes forced its retreat from operating bases in temporarily occupied Crimea.

The total cost of destroyed Russian equipment over four years is estimated at approximately $153 billion. May 2026 alone saw more than 31,500 Russian troops killed and seriously wounded, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. These figures are Ukrainian estimates. Russian casualty data is not publicly released.

Strategic ledger after four years

Russia's stated strategic objectives at the start of the February 2022 full-scale invasion, including the capture of Kyiv, the change of Ukrainian government, the demilitarization and "denazification" of Ukraine, and the establishment of a Russian-aligned regime in the Ukrainian capital, have not been reached.

Russian forces retreated from the northern Kyiv and Chernihiv axes in spring 2022, and although Russia has incrementally occupied additional territory in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson Oblasts since then, the pace of advance has been limited. 

Ukrainian fire control and deep-strike expansion

On the Ukrainian operational side, the past 12 months have seen a significant expansion of Ukraine's ability to strike targets across occupied territory and Russian rear areas.

The Ukrainian Defense Forces have established fire control over key logistics nodes in temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and in Crimea, including bringing Donetsk Airport within range of regular strikes and striking the Chonhar Bridge. 

In Crimea specifically, where Russia has concentrated air defense systems, 12 Russian Pantsir-S1 systems have been destroyed since the start of 2026. 

Logistics Lockdown and 1,800-kilometer deep-strike envelope

These operations are conducted within Ukraine's $113 million "Logistics Lockdown" program announced in May, which provides for systematic strikes on Russian warehouses, equipment, command posts, and supply routes deep behind the front line. A separate Ukrainian Deep Strike track targets critical infrastructure inside Russia itself, with Ukrainian deep strikes reaching up to 1,800 kilometers into Russian territory and recent operations hitting Russian oil-logistics nodes from Volgograd to Novorossiysk. 

Ten Russian soldiers from a single regiment are accused of hunting civilians in Kherson with attack drones, and now face war-crimes charges filed in absentia, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported. Investigators say the operators tracked people through the streets and struck ambulances and rescue crews. The 10 are among those participating in a Russian long-lasting terror campaign against Khersoners known as a "human safari." 

The drone hunters of one regiment

Counterintelligence officers built a case against 10 drone operators from the 404th Motorized Rifle Regiment, a territorial-defense unit in Russia's "Dnepr" Group of Forces, the SBU reported. The investigation found that the men tracked residents as they moved along Kherson's streets and launched drones at them. The drones carried shaped-charge and high-explosive fragmentation munitions.

Residents and rights monitors call this campaign a "human safari," the hunting of people going about their ordinary days.

The 10 named operators

The SBU published each suspect's name and military call sign:

• Tsolak Grigoryan, call sign "Boroda"
• Nikita Gubar, "Drovosek"
• Nikolai Denisenko, "Gami"
• Vladimir Klimov, "Klim"
• Vyacheslav Kornenkov, "Skif"
• Viktor Nizhnikov, "Flyaga"
• Ruslan Nugaev, "Dok"
• Vladimir Orlov, "Yakut"
• Ivan Prusachenko, "Prus"
• Oleg Pukhlyakov, "Pulya"

Ambulances and a double strike on rescuers

The documented episodes include attacks on civilian cars and residential blocks, the SBU said. Operators dropped explosives on ambulances at a city hospital. They also carried out a "double" strike on State Emergency Service (DSNS) rescuers who were clearing the aftermath of an earlier Russian shelling. 

UN investigators have described this Russian method in Kherson: a first strike, then a second aimed at the people who come to help. Victims suffered shrapnel wounds, burns, and concussions, and civilian infrastructure took significant damage.

Charged in absentia

Based on the evidence, SBU investigators notified all 10 of suspicion under Article 438 of Ukraine's criminal code, which covers war crimes. The notices were issued in absentia. SBU officers in Kherson Oblast led the investigation with the 79th Border Detachment of the State Border Guard Service (DPSU), under the oblast prosecutor's guidance. The agency said efforts to hold the operators accountable continue.

The case fits a wider pattern Ukrainian prosecutors have documented across the oblast in thousands of proceedings.