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Ukraine's 660-drone strike and a 40-day campaign
Summary
A retrospective on the largest Ukrainian drone attack on Russia since the war began, and the campaign announced alongside it.
What did Ukraine signal on 26 June 2026? It launched its largest drone attack on Russia since the start of the war, with more than 660 drones sent against multiple regions, including Moscow Oblast.
The same day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had approved a "40-day campaign" aimed at "compelling Russia to end the war". The strike and the announcement came together, which made the attack read as the opening of a stated campaign rather than a one-off raid.
The preceding days
On 22 June 2026, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said Russian drone attacks in Ukraine had killed at least five people. Among the dead were an Egyptian crew member aboard a Panamanian-flagged vessel in the Black Sea and three members of one family in Sumy Oblast. The attack also damaged the vessel and forced its crew to evacuate.
Drones at the centre
Drones have been a critical part of the war, particularly in combined arms warfare. Russia has used them against Ukrainian critical infrastructure, while Ukraine has used them to strike military infrastructure on Russian territory. The attack of 26 June 2026 fits that pattern, but at a scale not previously seen from the Ukrainian side.
The scale and the campaign announcement together set out Kyiv's stated aim: to pressure Russia into ending the war.
