Russia Escalates Aerial Campaign as Ukraine Strikes Deep Into Russian Territory
The war in Ukraine has entered another intense week marked by some of the largest aerial attacks of the conflict, with continued fighting along key sectors of the front and Ukrainian deep-strike operations against Russian infrastructure. Russian forces launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles against Ukrainian cities overnight; Ukrainian drones struck the St Petersburg oil terminal and a military base during the SPIEF economic forum. ISW reports the Russian ultranationalist community presented extreme and unrealistic scenarios for Russia’s military and geopolitical future at the SPIEF.
The Ukrainian deep-strike campaign against Russian infrastructure has been operationally calibrated to embarrass the Kremlin during high-prestige events: Saratov Oil Refinery over the weekend, Rosneft refinery, a Caspian military base, and the St Petersburg oil terminal during the SPIEF flagship economic-diplomatic event. Russian missile-drone barrages on Ukraine killed at least 18 in Kyiv apartment-building strikes Monday-Tuesday. President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to press for more US air-defence support; Hegseth’s “find a way” signal Saturday remains the operative US-side commitment but the framework Iran deal collapse risks pulling Patriot interceptors away from the Ukraine pipeline. Russian Geran-2 attack drones are produced at a rate of around 5,000 per month.