Russia once believed its air defenses made it untouchable. But Ukraine’s drone revolution has changed the battlefield. By systematically targeting radars, missile systems, and air defense infrastructure, Ukraine has transformed from defender to aerial hunter. As strikes reach deeper into Russian territory, key logistics routes, military assets, and even major cities are becoming vulnerable. How did Russia’s shield begin to collapse, and what does it mean for the future of the war? Watch now.
00:00 - Russia Air Defense Network Near Collapse
02:42 - Ukraine Targets Russian Air Defenses in 54.8% Strikes
05:17 - Ukraine Drones Attack Russia Crimea Land Bridge
09:33 - Ukraine Three Layered Drone Strategy Explained
13:07 - Russia Air Defense Deficit Exposes 70% Population
17:18 - Did Ukraine Strike Kronstadt Naval Base?
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SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/NSr7WaMc
00:00 - Russia Air Defense Network Near Collapse
02:42 - Ukraine Targets Russian Air Defenses in 54.8% Strikes
05:17 - Ukraine Drones Attack Russia Crimea Land Bridge
09:33 - Ukraine Three Layered Drone Strategy Explained
13:07 - Russia Air Defense Deficit Exposes 70% Population
17:18 - Did Ukraine Strike Kronstadt Naval Base?
Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join
#militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis
#themilitaryshow
SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/NSr7WaMc
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NewsTranscript
00:00When Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin thought that he had all of the defenses that he needed.
00:05Ukraine couldn't hit Russia anyway. It had no missiles. What did Russia have to worry about?
00:11The wannabe emperor would soon be crowned as Ukraine's ruler. But the emperor has no clothes.
00:18And neither does his country. Russia just became naked before Ukraine, setting up repeated shots
00:24to Putin's crown jewels. Blow after blow is crushing everything in Russia as Ukraine has gone
00:30from prey to predator. Ukraine is now the aerial hunter. It owns the skies as Russia's entire defense
00:38network is on the verge of collapse. Nobody could have expected this. For most of the Ukraine war,
00:45the focus has been rightly placed on what Ukraine could do to defend itself against Russia's
00:50combined ground assault and constant aerial bombardments. Going on the attack wasn't
00:55the subject of conversation. That was especially the case back in 2022. But even as little as a year
01:01ago, the talk was about how Ukraine could use its ever-improving drone technology to create a wall
01:07of defenses against Russia's unrelenting attacks. The mood up until recently was summed up perfectly
01:13in a July 2025 article by the Atlantic Council. The Ukrainian military's innovative and rapidly
01:19evolving use of unmanned aerial vehicles to create a layered defense is often referred to as a drone
01:25wall, the article declared. With the rest of the focus being placed on how the development of
01:30Ukraine's defenses could create the blueprint that all of Europe could follow to build a continent
01:35spanning drone wall of its own. It's certainly true that Ukraine's drone mastery is and will continue
01:41to be key to the country's defense. But 2026 has brought with it a major change in how Ukraine's
01:47drones are perceived. Once the defenders, restricted to taking out Russian projectiles and racking up
01:53casualties on the front, those drones have evolved into outright killers.
01:57As we move into 2026, something changed about how Ukraine was using drones. Suddenly, the deep
02:04strikes onto Russian territory that were taking out energy and military infrastructure were being
02:08accompanied by strikes in the middle range. Hordes of new drones started flying beyond the front lines,
02:13crashing down on Russian logistics, command posts and supply lines to degrade Putin's forces on the
02:19front. This wasn't supposed to be possible. Ukraine was going on the attack with weapons that were
02:25supposed to aid its defense and Russia started to become exposed. How did this happen? Blame Putin's
02:31arrogance and his inability to even consider the possibility that Ukraine could ever develop any sort
02:36of long- or medium-range capabilities. Putin was wrong. And much to his horror, Ukraine used its
02:42growing drone capabilities to start striking the one thing that Russia needed to guard itself against
02:46the attacking drone war that Ukraine has unleashed. Russian air defenses have been crumbling by the
02:51hundreds. The nation that was once the prey has evolved into the predator that rules the skies.
02:57And in doing so, it has exposed Russia. Forces in the occupied territories are naked,
03:03devoid of the air defenses that were supposed to protect them. Inside Russia itself, Ukraine has
03:08gone from attacking border regions and infrastructure to launching strikes against the crown jewels of
03:13Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. This was all part of Ukraine's plan. And thanks to a report
03:20by the Tochny Open Source Collective, we can see that it was a plan that was months in the making.
03:25That collective was able to verify 1,530 of what it calls kinetic actions against Russian targets both in
03:32the mainland and occupied Ukraine between June 2025 and March 2026. It's a fancy way of saying drone
03:39and missile strikes, but what's really interesting here is what Ukraine chose to target in the majority
03:44of these attacks. Of the 1,530, 493 strikes were conducted against Russian air defense infrastructure,
03:52which includes air defense systems themselves as well as radars and similar supporting equipment.
03:57That's about a third of all of Ukraine's strikes over the course of about three quarters of a year,
04:02but it didn't end there, also on the A2AD assets of which Ukraine's drone struck 433.
04:08A2AD stands for Anti-Access Area Denial, and it's a military term used to describe anything that an army
04:14uses to prevent an enemy from gaining access to territory that the army holds. We're talking about
04:19things like electronic warfare systems, which are often used to send drones flying off course,
04:23and even choppers and aircraft that can be used to take out the drones that Ukraine fires.
04:27In other words, assets that support Russia's attempts to defend the skies over the territories
04:32that it's stolen. Since Tochny's initial report, Ukraine has leaned even further into its strategy
04:38of destroying Russian air defenses. Now, 54.8% of Ukraine's strikes are designed to take out air
04:44defenses, as Ukraine builds on an already consistent campaign to defang a nation that has for so long
04:49been trying to take bites out of Ukraine's sovereign territory. Ukraine isn't just on the defensive
04:54anymore, it's on the attack, aerially speaking, and those attacks have been made possible because
04:59Ukraine has stripped away the defenses that were supposed to stop them. The very weapons that were
05:04designed to kill Ukraine's drones have fallen to the one thing they were supposed to stop.
05:08Now, the rest of Russia and the occupied territories are feeling the same pain.
05:14As Tochny puts it, the bear has been blinded, and we only need to look at what Ukraine has been
05:19doing
05:19to Russia, both in the occupied territories and Russia itself, to see what that means.
05:24The strike tells the full story. All across the R-280 Novorossiya highway that connects Russia's
05:30Rostov region to Crimea and the occupied Ukrainian south, drones are flying and trucks are burning.
05:37Travel across that highway is now being restricted following Ukraine's destruction of 150 vehicles by June 1st.
05:43And likely many dozens, if not hundreds more since. This highway is the land bridge that connects
05:48Russia to Crimea. It's absolutely vital for Russia to keep its supplies flowing into the occupied
05:53peninsula as well as into Ukraine's south. But now it's been rendered practically unusable by a new
05:59generation of middle-range drones. The crippling of this land bridge was made possible by Ukraine's
06:04destruction of so many of Russia's air defenses. And there are so many more examples.
06:09In June, Ukraine sent drones to strike the Chenar Bridge in the Kherson Oblast.
06:14That bridge is another logistical artery connecting Crimea to Ukraine's occupied south,
06:19and Ukraine has identified it as another target to take out now that Russia's air defenses have
06:23crumbled. On June 9th, the Kherson puppet governor, Volodymyr Saldo, revealed that Ukraine has carried
06:29out a follow-up strike against the bridge, once again damaging it in the wake of a June 7th attack
06:34that had already forced Russia to divert drivers down different routes. Repeated attacks shouldn't
06:40be possible. Even if you give Russia some grace for failing to stop the June 7th strike,
06:44it should have put air defenses in place to stop the second attack on June 9th. Russia failed.
06:49Not because it didn't want to install defenses or that it failed to see the importance of the
06:54Chenar Bridge. Russia's problem is that losing hundreds upon hundreds of air defense assets has
06:59left its defenses utterly threadbare. What little clothing Russia wore in the occupied territories
07:04to defend itself has been torn off, leaving an exposed and naked army that can't do anything to
07:09stop Ukraine's drones. That's why we see repeated attacks. Russia knows they're coming, but it doesn't
07:14have the defenses it needs to do something about the incoming hordes. It's not just occupied Ukraine
07:19that is feeling the pain of the death of Russia's air defenses. St. Petersburg, which is Putin's hometown,
07:24and the crown jewel of Russian opulence, has also been struck. Putin chose that city to host the
07:30annual International Economic Forum that Russia puts on to showcase the supposed strength of its
07:35economy and build relationships with other nations. The Russian Davos, as it's been called,
07:40ran from June 3rd to three days. Ukraine bookended the event with drone strikes, first hitting key
07:46facilities around St. Petersburg on the opening day of the forum, and then following up with more
07:50attacks as the forum ended. The timing wasn't coincidental. Ukraine wanted Russia to know that
07:56it could hit St. Petersburg at any time, and it chose a time when all eyes were on the city.
08:01Think about what that means. This event was a showcase for Russia. St. Petersburg would have been
08:07as well defended as it could possibly be to ensure nothing went wrong, and it still didn't matter.
08:12Ukraine's drones broke through Russia's air defenses, which tells you everything you really need to
08:16know about the state of those defenses. These attacks also came in the wake of Russia's pitiful
08:21Victory Day parades. These parades, which are supposed to be another major showcase,
08:26this time of Russia's military might, were toned down to the point where not a single piece of
08:31military equipment was on display as the parade trundled through Moscow's Red Square. Why? Well,
08:37Russia was terrified that Ukraine would use the parade as an opportunity to strike,
08:40and it knew that the crumbling air defense network inside Russia wouldn't be able to stop a large enough
08:45drone swarm. As Christian Teres, who is a member of the European Parliament, puts it,
08:50Leningrad and Moscow regions are highly populated and economically vital for Russia's war machine.
08:55Ukraine is successfully executing classic economic and psychological warfare against them.
09:01This is the situation that Ukraine has created with its attacks on Russia's air defenses.
09:05They have been degraded to the point where all of Russia and the occupied territories are vulnerable.
09:10And none of this is going to get any better for Russia. What was once Russia's greatest
09:14strength has been transformed into its biggest weakness and that's a game changer in the Ukraine
09:19war. But before we explain why, this is a reminder that you are watching the military show.
09:25If you like what you see from our channel, make sure you hit subscribe so that you never miss a
09:29video.
09:30Here's what all of this means for Russia as Putin continues his ruinous campaign to take Ukraine.
09:36Russia is now naked. It doesn't have enough air defenses to even come close to protecting all of its assets.
09:41And that comes not from us or Ukraine, but from the head of the Estonian Ministry of Defense's
09:46Defense Readiness Department, Gert Kayu. He says that Russia is expending what remains of its air
09:52defense missiles at an alarming rate, which means it's running low on missiles just as much as it's
09:56running low on the systems used to fire them. In the Russian rear, inside occupied Ukraine,
10:02Russia's defenses have been degraded to the point where Ukraine has achieved localized pockets of air
10:06superiority that give the country control over undefended skies. In addition to the R280,
10:12Ukraine is carrying out strikes against the M14 and M04 highways, along with parts of the H20 highway
10:19that connects these two roads to Donetsk. None of this should be happening because Russia's air defenses
10:24should be preventing the strikes, but they aren't. Ukraine is destroying them all. What Russia now has
10:30is an increasingly blind empire, at least when it comes to dealing with threats from the skies.
10:35If it's not air defense systems being destroyed, it's radars. The latter are expensive to replace,
10:41and losing them means that an otherwise functional air defense system can't hit the broad side of a
10:46barn, never mind a small drone that is on its way to the next strike. Ukraine now has a three
10:50-layered
10:51strategy in play. FPV drones are striking deeper than ever before, reaching 35 kilometers behind the
10:57front lines to cripple Russian equipment and soldiers attempting to launch attacks. Middle-range drones
11:03are striking convoys and air defenses 150 kilometers away from the front, which not only sets the stage
11:09for middle-range strikes, but also creates safe aerial corridors for long-range drones to fly through
11:14en route to Russia itself. As for Russia, it's in panic mode. The Keeve Post reports that Russian military
11:21bloggers are now arguing that military convoys need to have their own radars, electronic warfare,
11:26warfare, and mobile air defense systems to guard themselves against Ukraine's drones.
11:30A reasonable argument, perhaps, but where is Russia going to get all of these assets when Ukraine is
11:35already devastating its air defense network? Other war bloggers are turning their anger toward Putin
11:40and his cronies, arguing that they have failed to achieve the objectives of the special military
11:45operation, and Russia is now more vulnerable than it was when Putin launched his full-scale invasion
11:50in 2022. The New Voice of Ukraine reports that these bloggers are becoming braver and more
11:55outspoken in their criticism of Putin, having previously directed their criticism at the
12:00generals that Russia's leader chose. RBC Ukraine says that this criticism is being felt deep in the
12:05bowels of the Kremlin, to the point where Russia is trying to censor its military bloggers by cracking
12:10down on the social media channels they use, such as Telegram. That's a pretty typical response from
12:15Putin. When faced with a very real problem, he tries to hide the issue rather than confront it.
12:20Ukraine is intent on making the problem that Putin faces even worse. The Financial Times reports that
12:26Ukraine's Ministry of Defense reported that Ukraine built 441% more reconnaissance drones
12:32during the first four months of 2026 than it did during the same period in 2025. These are the drones
12:38that scope out Russian positions and identify air defense assets to attack. Ukraine also increased
12:44its production of mid-strike drones by 312% during the same period, ensuring that it has the weapons
12:49available to launch attacks when the reconnaissance drones find ideal targets. But the real problem
12:54is this. Ukraine shattering so much of Russia's air defense network that its drones are able to
12:59penetrate into the crown jewel cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg is bad enough. But the real
13:04issue for Putin is that there seems to be no real way for Russia to reverse course and get its
13:09clothes back
13:09on. Russia is trying to find solutions. The development of the ZAK-30 Citadel is one of them. This isn't
13:16exactly a new air defense weapon, rather it's a type of turret built around existing 30mm guns that
13:21combine radar, automated fire control and electro-optical tracking to allow those guns to fire
13:27programmable air burst ammunition. It's clear that Russia is trying to find better solutions for dealing
13:32with the Ukrainian drones that so often circumvent and destroy the more advanced air defense systems.
13:37A smart idea this may be, especially when it comes to the cost of countering Ukraine's drones,
13:41but a handful of guns isn't going to do much to solve the much broader air defense problems that Russia
13:46has, and it seems unlikely that they will be deployable at a large enough scale for them to
13:51make a real difference. And that hints at Russia's real problem that lies behind all of this. Combine the
13:56country and the occupied territories and you have far too much land to protect with a dwindling stockpile
14:01of air defense systems and missiles. Makeshift solutions like the ZAK-30 Citadel do nothing to solve
14:07the problem of Russia not being able to build more air defense systems and missiles to replace those
14:12that it's losing to Ukraine. Russia also isn't helping itself on the missile front. In a June 5th
14:18report, Euromiden Press revealed that Russia has started converting air defense missiles into weapons
14:23that it can fire to boost its ballistic missile strikes against Ukraine. Apparently, Russia has
14:28doubled the rate of these conversions, which means that its aerial assaults are going to become more
14:32powerful. But the trade-off for this power is the loss of air defense missiles that are already in very
14:37short supply. This is a short-sighted strategy that reveals how desperate Russia has become.
14:42It's cannibalizing the very weapons that it needs more than anything else right now to allow it to
14:47throw some more Hail Mary haymakers at Ukraine. Russia is hoping to score a knockout blow because
14:52it doesn't want the world to know that what we're really seeing here is a last desperate grasp at
14:56victory. Again, we're not seeing the solution to the core problem, which is that Russia was already too
15:01big to defend and its size has become an even greater liability following Ukraine's dismantlement of
15:07the Russian air defense network. According to the Atlantic Council, around a quarter of Russia's
15:12landmass is now within the reach of Ukraine's drones. That may not seem so impressive until you realize
15:17that 70% of Russia's population occupies this territory, which also means that the vast majority of
15:23Russia's key military, industrial, and energy assets are also within Ukraine's strike range. For Russia,
15:28this is still too much territory to protect, and it means that Russia faces a difficult decision
15:33whenever another air defense system or radar goes down. Does it replace the shattered system?
15:38With Russia's air defense production being limited, a replacement usually means pulling a
15:43system from another location. One area has to be weakened to reinforce another that has already
15:48proven to be vulnerable to Ukraine's drones. But if a replacement isn't sourced, those same drones
15:53will just strike again. We saw Ukraine do just that at the Chenar Bridge, and it crippled a key Russian
15:58logistical route in the process. There is no correct decision for Russia here. No matter what option
16:04is chosen, something that Russia wants to protect, and Ukraine wants to hit, becomes vulnerable.
16:09Russia's vulnerability is all too clear, the Atlantic Council says, adding. Even in the most
16:14favorable circumstances, the Kremlin would find it extremely challenging to organize a truly effective
16:19nationwide air defense network. That's a good point. Even if Russia weren't dealing with Ukraine's
16:24ever-expanding drone threat, it wouldn't be able to properly protect its territory. It would be forced
16:28to rely on sheer size and a vague hope that the weapons its enemy produces don't have the range to
16:33hit anything. Ironically, that also means that regions such as the Russian Far East are underprotected,
16:38which means that Russia can't even pull air defenses from those regions to replace systems lost in the
16:43areas that are within Ukraine's range. Again, we see a whole lot of problems for which Russia has no
16:48solutions. When we say Russia is naked, this is what we mean. Its air defense network, which was already
16:53too weak to protect everything, has been exposed and degraded. Ukraine will just keep building.
16:59More strikes in the occupied territories will come, which sets up yet more attacks inside Russia.
17:04What we have seen so far in 2026 is impressive enough, but it is also far from the peak of
17:09what
17:09Ukraine can do. As more air defenses go down and drone production continues to scale,
17:14the exposed crown jewels of the Russian Empire will get hit harder. Putin will be brought to his knees.
17:20And when he looks up with tear-filled eyes, all he will see is more Ukrainian drones.
17:25Ukraine's genius strategy has also put it in a position to strike locations that nobody has ever
17:30hit before. It just did that earlier in June. The target, the Kronstadt Naval Base near St. Petersburg.
17:36For the first time ever, Ukraine's drones flew right into that vital Baltic base and struck a target.
17:42What did they hit? How did Ukraine pull this off? We will find out the answers to those questions and
17:47more in our video. And if you enjoyed this video, remember to subscribe to the channel
17:51to see more of us picking apart Russia's failings in our videos. And thank you as always for watching.
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