Putin explains rise in Ukrainian drone attacks as pressure on Russia, promises to strengthen air defenses

At a meeting with military personnel marking Russia Day, President Vladimir Putin stated that Ukraine is increasing its use of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles to strike Russian territory, with the aim of damaging the country’s economy and splitting society.

“Nothing will come of it,” Putin stressed.

According to the president, Russia intends to strengthen its countermeasures in order to discourage the Ukrainian military from striking civilian targets. Putin paid particular attention to the development of the air defense system.

“First — we must strengthen the country’s air defense system, in all its variety — I won’t go into details now, specialists know this — for operating at different altitudes, for working against different types of targets, and so on. And we are doing this and will continue to do so,” the Russian leader said.

Earlier, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin also stated that attacks on Russian infrastructure are causing a certain degree of damage, and that this makes it necessary to strengthen security.

According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, during the past night air defense forces shot down 231 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions. On the night of June 10–11, 330 Ukrainian drones were repelled, and on the night of June 9–10, more than 320.

A separate episode in this context was the strike on the night of May 22: Ukrainian Armed Forces drones attacked the building of the Starobilsk Vocational College in the Luhansk People’s Republic. Putin called the strike deliberate and said the attack was carried out in three waves — 16 drones hit the same location. As a result of the strike on the college dormitory, 21 people were killed. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on terrorism charges.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported that on the night of May 24, the Russian army carried out a “retaliatory strike” on Ukraine, deploying Oreshnik ballistic missiles, Iskander aeroballistic missiles, Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, and Zircon cruise missiles.