Ukraine carried out one of its most extensive drone campaigns in recent months against Russia’s maritime and energy infrastructure this week, saying it hit 21 vessels over three days while escalating strikes on major refineries far inside Russian territory put additional strain on Moscow’s fuel network.
The barrage underscored how significantly Ukraine’s long-range strike capacity has expanded.
On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with President Donald Trump during the NATO summit in Ankara. Trump said Washington would permit Ukraine to produce Patriot air-defense interceptors, while the two leaders also discussed the outlines of a possible drone agreement.
Drone video shows flames and thick smoke rising from what the Rostov region governor described as an empty oil tanker after overnight Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia, which Ukraine’s military confirmed, at a location identified as the Sea of Azov, in this screengrab from a handout video released on July 8, 2026. (Commander of Unmanned Aerial Systems Force/Handout via REUTERS )
During the one-on-one meeting, Zelenskyy placed air defenses at the center of his agenda and said Kyiv and Washington had also started work on a separate arrangement focused on drones.
“Air defense is the priority,” Zelenskyy said, calling the developing drone pact “a very good beginning” and adding that he hoped to review further details with Trump.
The attacks gave Zelenskyy a timely example to bring to the summit: Ukraine’s homegrown drone sector is now capable of reaching Russian targets well beyond the traditional front lines.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets bilaterally with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO leaders summit at the Bestepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, Turkey, July 8, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Trump praised Zelenskyy as “very effective” and credited Ukrainian forces with successfully operating American weapons against Russia’s much larger military.
“He’s had the best equipment because he had our equipment,” Trump said. “But somebody has to use that equipment. And you have a lot of brave people that are using that equipment.”
Ukraine is increasingly forcing Russia to defend refineries, airfields, shipping routes and other infrastructure far beyond the front. Kyiv has not achieved a comparable breakthrough in the grinding ground campaign, and Russia continues to bombard Ukrainian cities. But repeated long-range strikes have begun disrupting fuel production and maritime logistics while imposing costs on parts of Russia that were once largely insulated from the fighting.
Black smoke billows from the area of Gazprom Neftâs Moscow oil refinery, located on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow, on June 18, 2026, following what the Russian capital’s mayor described as a large-scale drone attack by Ukraine. (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said nine Russian-linked vessels were struck in the Sea of Azov on Wednesday, bringing the number targeted over 72 hours to 21.
Commander Robert “Magyar” Brovdi said the targets included 19 oil tankers, a cargo ship and a ferry operating near Russian-occupied Crimea, according to East2West news agency. He described the campaign against the fleet as reaching an “industrial scale.”
Ukrainian and Russian officials confirmed that the overnight offensive targeted tankers, refineries, pipeline facilities and a military airfield across several Russian regions.
Ukraine says many of the vessels were part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet and were being used to transport fuel to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow seized and illegally annexed in 2014.
In this photo taken by an anonymous source, smoke rises from oil storage facilities hit by fire in Bryansk, Russia, on April 25. (AP)
The maritime strikes were accompanied by attacks on the Saratov refinery and energy facilities in the Russian regions of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Russian authorities said one person was killed in Saratov.
Ukraine also said it struck the Borisoglebsk military airfield in Russia’s Voronezh region. The base has been used by Russian combat aircraft involved in attacks against Ukraine, according to Kyiv.
The latest wave followed a Ukrainian strike Monday on the Omsk refinery in Siberia, approximately 1,700 miles from Ukrainian-controlled territory. The facility is Russia’s largest oil refinery and processed about 460,000 barrels of crude per day last year, according to Reuters.
Two industry sources subsequently told Reuters that the Omsk facility had halted oil processing following the attack.
The disruption comes as parts of Russia face gasoline and diesel shortages attributed in part to repeated Ukrainian attacks on refineries and fuel depots.
Long lines have formed at filling stations in several cities, while some regions have introduced purchasing restrictions. Russia announced Wednesday that it was temporarily banning diesel exports through July 31 to protect domestic supplies.
Smoke and flames rise over Moscow on June 18, 2026, following a Ukrainian drone attack that hit the Kapotnya oil refinery and other targets in the Russian capital. (East2West)
The shortages have become one of the most visible ways the war is reaching ordinary Russians.
Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Kremlin-funded RT network, acknowledged the hardships during an appearance on Russian state television and urged Russians not to respond by challenging the country’s leadership.
“There is no petrol,” Simonyan said in a translated clip distributed by regional media.
Recalling food rationing after the collapse of the Soviet Union, she said: “We endured it. And we will endure it now.”
Simonyan argued that Russia’s enemies wanted the population to react as it had during the 1917 revolution and “run off to overthrow” the czar.
“Yes, it is hard, yes, very hard,” she said, urging Russians to remain calm.
The pressure on Russia’s energy infrastructure formed the backdrop to Zelenskyy’s Wednesday meeting with Trump at the Beştepe Presidential Compound.
Russia continued its bombardment of Ukraine during the summit, striking Kyiv and other cities with missiles and drones. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said storage facilities were burning in the capital’s Desnyanskyi district and reported another fire in the Sviatoshynskyi district.
