Vladimir Putin’s own military has let slip just how much damage Ukraine’s devastating drone strikes are doing to Russia.
Russian Defense Ministry briefings, compiled by state news agency RIA Novosti, reveal that Putin’s regime has been forced to shoot down a staggering 64,000 Ukrainian drones over its own territory during the first six months of this year.
Total downings have surged across the spring, rising from around 5,400 in January to an astonishing high of 18,000 in June.
Kyiv’s fast-growing drone fleet has hammered oil refineries and energy sites hundreds of miles beyond the frontline and deep into Russia.
The barrage has knocked more than 25 percent of refining capacity offline, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, triggering a spiraling fuel crisis that has forced the Kremlin to ration supplies and left citizens often waiting in lines outside gas stations for up to two days.
By late June, rationing was in place across 56 regions, according to independent outlet Mediazona. Putin, 73, has said his government is racing to stabilize supplies as Moscow moves to halt diesel exports.
The mounting damage has shifted Washington’s posture. President Donald Trump, 80, who has otherwise proven hostile toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 48, threw his weight behind the deep strikes during last week’s NATO summit in Turkey. Trump called the attacks “an escalation that could help lead to an end” to the war.
Trump vowed to end the now four-year conflict within 24 hours of retaking office. Eighteen months in, no settlement exists.
He and Putin are understood to have spoken by phone in early July, but diplomacy has largely stalled as the White House remains preoccupied with ending Trump’s own war with Iran.
The White House has its own fuel headache. U.S. gas prices have climbed back to $3.88 a gallon, marking their sharpest weekly jump since mid-May, after Trump reignited tensions with Iran last week.
