# Ukraine Launches One of Its Largest Drone Attacks as Zelensky Pressures Belarus

Russia said it intercepted 660 drones across twelve regions and Crimea, while Kyiv reported renewed strikes on a Russian chemical plant and accused Minsk of aiding the war.

- Published: 2026-06-26T10:15:04.630Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-06-26/ukraine-launches-one-of-its-largest-drone-attacks-as-zelensk
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3358513/russia-reports-one-biggest-ukrainian-drone-attacks-including-crimea), [The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/ukraine-hits-russian-chemical-plant-again-reports-say-in-heavy-overnight-drone-attack/article71149896.ece), [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/world/europe/zelensky-belarus-drones-relay.html)

Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defenses intercepted [660 Ukrainian drones in an overnight attack](https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3358513/russia-reports-one-biggest-ukrainian-drone-attacks-including-crimea) spanning twelve Russian regions, the Crimean peninsula, and the Black and Azov seas, calling it one of the largest such assaults of the war. Ukrainian and regional reports said the strikes hit industrial targets, including a [chemical plant in Novomoskovsk](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/ukraine-hits-russian-chemical-plant-again-reports-say-in-heavy-overnight-drone-attack/article71149896.ece), about 200 kilometers south of Moscow, where a regional governor confirmed damage to a facility.

The two sides offered competing accounts of the damage, with Moscow emphasizing interceptions and Kyiv emphasizing direct hits, a pattern that has held throughout the campaign and that independent verification rarely resolves in real time. Russian state media, for its part, said Russian forces had carried out [five strikes on Ukrainian defense-industry targets](https://ria.ru/20260626/ukraina-2101257174.html) over the past week.

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky escalated [threats against Belarus](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/world/europe/zelensky-belarus-drones-relay.html), with Ukrainian officials saying Belarusian radio relay stations were being used to guide Russian attack drones more precisely. The accusation broadens the diplomatic reach of the conflict at a moment when Russian President Vladimir Putin used Belarus's independence day to praise the two countries' integration.

## What this means

The drone campaign keeps pressure on Russia's energy and industrial infrastructure, the source of the revenue that funds the war, while Russia retaliates against Ukrainian defense production. The new friction with Belarus signals that the conflict's geography is widening rather than narrowing, which matters for European security planning at the very moment the United States is reducing its military presence on the continent.

## What to watch

- Whether strikes increasingly target Russian refineries and chemical plants, which would tighten the pressure on Moscow's export revenue.
- Any formal Ukrainian or Russian action involving Belarus, which would mark a dangerous expansion of the war beyond the two original combatants.
- European drone manufacturing for Ukraine, which Russian commentators say is expanding and which would extend Kyiv's reach.