Zelenskyy Launches 40-Day Drone Campaign to Pressure Russia as Putin Repeats 2022 Peace Demands
Updated
Updated · Al Jazeera English · Jul 1
Zelenskyy Launches 40-Day Drone Campaign to Pressure Russia as Putin Repeats 2022 Peace Demands
3 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Jul 1
Summary
A 40-day Ukrainian “influence operation” will intensify long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries and supply routes in a bid to force Moscow toward terms more favorable to Kyiv.
Those attacks have already caused fuel shortages in Russia, pushed Moscow to buy fuel abroad, and triggered blackouts in occupied Crimea by disrupting routes north of the Sea of Azov.
Putin nonetheless signaled defiance on June 23, sticking to 2022 Istanbul-based demands for Ukrainian neutrality and military limits while adding claims tied to occupied territory and further withdrawals in Donbas.
Russia’s oil and gas output remains intact despite refinery damage, cushioning the economic hit, while higher energy revenues and Ukraine’s dependence on increasingly strained European aid limit Kyiv’s leverage.
The campaign also unfolds as Russian forces press their ground offensive toward Kostiantynivka, underscoring that drone strikes have yet to alter the broader battlefield trajectory.