Ukrainian drone hits plant deep inside Russia
Both sides in the more than three-year war following Russia's February 2022 invasion of its neighbour have raced to improve drone technology and enhance their use on the battlefield.
They have deployed increasingly sophisticated and deadlier drones, turning the war into a testing ground for the new weaponry.
Ukraine is under severe strain from a Russian push at places on the 1000km front line, but analysts say its defences are largely holding firm.
With recent direct peace talks delivering no progress on US-led international efforts to halt the fighting, Russia and Ukraine are bulking up their arsenals.
Russia launched 5438 drones at Ukraine in June, a monthly record, according to official data collated by The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone hit an industrial plant in Izhevsk, about 1000km east of Moscow, injuring several people and starting a fire, Alexander Brechalov, head of the Udmurtia region, said.
The plant's workers were evacuated, he said.
The drone struck the Kupol Electromechanical Plant, which produces air defence systems and drones for the Russian military, according to an official with Ukraine's Security Service, the SBU.
At least two direct hits were recorded on the plant's buildings, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly.
Ukraine has for months been using domestically produced long-range drones to strike plants, storage sites and logistical hubs deep inside Russian territory.
In May 2024, a Ukrainian drone hit an early-warning radar in the Russian city of Orsk, some 1800km from the Ukrainian border, Kyiv officials claimed.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine's domestic production of drones was about to increase in response to Russia's expanded barrages.
"The priority is drones, interceptor drones and long-range strike drones," he said on Telegram late on Monday.
"This is extremely important," he said. "Russia is investing in its unmanned capabilities, Russia is planning to increase the number of drones used in strikes against our state. We are preparing our countermeasures."
Russia's defence ministry said 60 Ukrainian drones were downed overnight over several regions, including 17 over Crimea, 16 over the Rostov region and four over the Saratov region.
At the same time, four Russian Shahed drones struck the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzia during the night, leaving more than 1600 households without power, according to authorities.
US President Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg, rebuked Russia for continuing to strike civilian areas of Ukraine while effectively rejecting a ceasefire and dragging its feet on a peace settlement.
"We urge an immediate ceasefire and a move to trilateral talks to end the war," Kellogg said on the social platform X late Monday.
"Russia cannot continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine."
Ukraine is developing its own defence industry as uncertainty remains over whether the Trump administration will continue to provide crucial military aid.
Between March and April, the United States allocated no new aid to Ukraine, according to Germany's Kiel Institute, which tracks such support.
Europe its support and for the first time since June 2022 surpassed the US in total military aid, totalling 72 billion euros ($A129 billion) compared with 65 billion euros from the US, the institute said in June.
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A decision by the US to halt some deliveries of various weapons including precision rocket artillery to Ukraine will worsen the situation on the ground for Ukraine's forces, said Jack Watling, a senior researcher at think-tank Royal United Services Institute. "The loss of these supplies will significantly degrade Ukraine's ability to strike Russian forces beyond 30km from the front line and therefore allow Russia to improve its logistics," Watling said. Ukrainian blog DeepState, which uses open-source data to map the frontline, said the Russian military in June had seized 556 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory, which it said was the largest monthly loss of ground since November. Russian forces, which have numerical superiority, cut the main road linking Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka in May, complicating Ukrainian movements and resupply efforts. 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The Kremlin claims the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in their entirety and has ordered the establishment of buffer zones along the borders defined by Russia. Russian forces have made incursions near two towns key to army supply routes in eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian military official says as the Kremlin seeks a breakthrough in an offensive at a time of uncertainty over US weapons support for Ukraine. In recent weeks, Russia has amassed forces and despite heavy losses has advanced in rural areas either side of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, which both sit on crossroads running to the frontline from larger cities in Ukrainian-controlled territory. Russia's advances on the front are matched by an intensification of drone and missile strikes on Kyiv and other cities. So far, the efforts by US President Donald Trump have failed to achieve a ceasefire in the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in 2022. One of the aims of the Russian offensive is to occupy the rest of the Donetsk region. Russian soldiers are using small assault groups, light vehicles and drones to push towards the neighbouring region, said Viktor Trehubov, a spokesman for the Khortytsia group of forces. "There are constant attacks with the intent of breaking through" to the border of the Dnipropetrovsk region at any cost, Trehubov said in written comments to Reuters. Russia has 111,000 soldiers in the Pokrovsk area, which it has been trying to seize since early last year, Ukraine's top armed forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said last week, describing dozens of battles in the area every day. A decision by the US to halt some deliveries of various weapons including precision rocket artillery to Ukraine will worsen the situation on the ground for Ukraine's forces, said Jack Watling, a senior researcher at think-tank Royal United Services Institute. "The loss of these supplies will significantly degrade Ukraine's ability to strike Russian forces beyond 30km from the front line and therefore allow Russia to improve its logistics," Watling said. Ukrainian blog DeepState, which uses open-source data to map the frontline, said the Russian military in June had seized 556 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory, which it said was the largest monthly loss of ground since November. Russian forces, which have numerical superiority, cut the main road linking Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka in May, complicating Ukrainian movements and resupply efforts. "The Russian advance is being contained but their crossing of the Pokrovsk-Kostyantynivka highway is a strategic and logistical setback," Trehubov said. Heavy Russian losses have prevented Russian advances toward Kostiantynivka via Chasiv Yar or along the western Pokrovsk front, he said. "Now they are attempting (to advance) further away from populated areas," Trehubov said. DeepState also reported that Russian advances in June near Pokrovsk and nearby Novopavlivka accounted for more than half of all Russian gains along the entire frontline in all of Ukraine. Trehubov said Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka remain Ukrainian logistical hubs despite setbacks and drone activity which make some defensive fortifications less effective. "(Drones) hinder logistics for both sides but don't make it impossible. Drones after all are not invulnerable," he said. Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian invasion for more than three years. The Kremlin claims the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in their entirety and has ordered the establishment of buffer zones along the borders defined by Russia.
