A Quarter Of Russia's Territory And 70% Of The Population Were In The Target Zone Of Ukrainian Drones
- 5.05.2026, 21:50
The AFU is moving the war to the territory of the aggressor.
The expanding capabilities of Ukrainian drones, which regularly hit cities from the Leningrad region to the Urals, have led to the fact that a quarter of Russia's territory and 70% of the country's population are now within their target zone, writes Bloomberg.
Since the beginning of April, the AFU has attacked Chelyabinsk, a city of 1.2 million people located 1.5-1.7 thousand kilometers from the border with Ukraine, at least 5 times with drones. The regional center, which has been considered a "tank town" since Soviet times due to the concentration of military plants, has become a regular target for drones. On May 1, a military airfield near the city was hit, where, according to Ukraine's GUR, several Su-57 and Su-34 fighters were destroyed.
5 times in April-May and 7 times since the beginning of the year drones reached Yekaterinburg, the fourth most populous city in the Russian Federation, which is located 1.7 thousand kilometers from Ukraine. On April 25, a UAV hit a high-rise apartment building in Yekaterinburg, marking the first military damage to the city since the invasion of Ukraine began.
Perm, located 1,500 kilometers from the border, has been targeted 15 times since the beginning of the year, including seven times since the beginning of April. On April 30, Transneft tanks and the Permnefteorgsintez oil refinery were hit in the city, after which the sky was covered with smog and "oil rains" poured.
On Tuesday, Cheboksary (1,200 km from the border) was hit, for which Ukrainian Flamingo missiles were used, according to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
The area of UAV raids is expanding. And Russian authorities are responding with internet shutdowns and communication restrictions, up to and including banning SMS messages, and threatening to launch a "crushing blow" on the center of Kiev if Ukraine dares to attack the Kremlin's sacred Victory Parade ceremony in Moscow. Despite the threats, however, Ukrainian drones have started appearing in the capital again: On May 4, a UAV flew into a high-rise apartment building in an elite housing estate 6 kilometers from the Kremlin.
On the same day, it became known that Vladimir Putin had replaced the commander of the Air and Space Forces, which includes the Air Defense Forces. Instead of General Viktor Afzalov, who had been in charge of the air defense forces since 2023, Colonel General Alexander Chaiko, a graduate of the Moscow Suvorov School, who commanded Russian troops in Syria in the late 2010s and has been in charge of the Eastern Military District since 2021, was appointed to the post.
According to the Financial Times, the Kremlin has stepped up security measures for Putin. Fearing assassination attempts and UAV strikes, he is spending more and more time in underground bunkers, has sharply curtailed travel, and his closest staff, including guards and cooks, are banned from using cell phones and any internet-enabled device.
The drone strikes, which have already reached as far as the Urals, are increasing fatigue in Russian society, political analyst Andrei Kolesnikov said. This is hitting the ratings of the government and Putin personally, who is facing the strongest drop in "approval" in 8 years, according to the state-run VTsIOM. The latest poll, conducted in late April, showed that 65.6 percent of Russians approve of Putin's job performance - the lowest since the war began.
"People are adapting to everything, but there is a growing fatigue that is turning into irritation," Kolesnikov notes.