Ukraine has maintained its momentum in targeting Russian airfields and war production facilities, despite Russia’s retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian cities. In the past week, Ukraine has struck at least three fuel tanks at Engels airbase, 500km southeast of Moscow, and fires were reported at Dyagilevo airbase, 170km from the capital. Ukrainian forces also targeted the JSC Progress plant in Michurinsk, a key link in Russia‘s defence industrial chain, and the Azot chemical plant in Novomoskovsk, which produces military explosives.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, said that Ukraine’s strikes aim to disrupt Russia’s war production and degrade its military capabilities. “We have come very close to the moment when we can force Russia to stop the war. We feel it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an ABC interview. French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced that carmaker Renault was launching a new partnership in Ukraine to build drone production lines, a result of Kyiv’s efforts to attract Western investment in domestic weapons production.
Russia has responded with massive air raids on Ukrainian cities, causing dozens of civilian casualties. On June 5, two Russian attacks destroyed the Kherson regional administration building, and on Friday, a deadly cocktail of 407 drones and 45 missiles killed at least four people in Kyiv and injured dozens across the country. Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had launched 215 drones across Ukraine overnight, and Ukrainian officials reported that at least two people were killed in Kharkiv after 17 Shahed drones fell on the city.
Meanwhile, Russian troops have reached the border of Dnipropetrovsk, a Ukrainian region that Russian boots had yet to step on in the more than three-year war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian troops intended to create a buffer zone in Dnipropetrovsk. The European Union has pledged significant military upgrades to Ukraine, including building 100,000 drones, and has floated an 18th package of sanctions targeting Russia’s banks, energy revenues, and military.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not attend the 28th Contact Group for Ukraine, keeping with the US freeze on aid to Ukraine. Zelenskyy confirmed that the US had redirected 20,000 anti-drone rockets commissioned for Ukraine to US forces in the Middle East. “The president is committed to peace in this conflict,” Hegseth said. As the conflict continues, Ukraine’s allies are working to provide military support, while Russia’s military production and drone capabilities pose a significant threat to Ukrainian forces and civilians.