Ukraine launches one of its largest drone barrages on Russia
Russia reported downing 660 Ukrainian drones overnight on June 25–26 across 13 regions, including Moscow, Crimea and nearby waters, in one of Ukraine’s heaviest barrages of the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes hit the Azot plant in Novomoskovsk, which he called critical to Russia’s explosives production, along with oil refineries near Moscow and energy infrastructure across southern Russia. One woman was reported injured in the Tula region.
The barrage fits Ukraine’s strategy of attacking the fuel, power and chemical assets that sustain Russia’s military, trading territorial defense for pressure on logistics deep inside Russia. Crimea’s Russian-installed governor acknowledged the limits of air defenses, saying no system is “absolutely perfect.”
Separately, Zelenskyy said intelligence indicated Belarus was building military infrastructure near Ukraine’s border under Russian influence — a claim Moscow denied. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko warned against being drawn into the war, even as Belarus hosts Russian nuclear weapons and runs joint exercises with Moscow.