Ukraine has concluded a relentless 40-day deep-strike campaign, unleashing long-range drones against targets deep inside Russia. The offensive crippled all 11 of Moscow’s largest oil refineries—including a record-breaking 2,500-kilometer strike in Siberia—while destroying air defense systems, aircraft, and shadow fleet vessels. Slashed fuel supplies and mounting economic damage are driving public discontent across Russia, proving no rear area is safe as pressure on Vladimir Putin escalates.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Zelenskyy Launches 40 Day Drone Campaign Against Russia
01:20 - Ukraine Drone Strikes Destroy 21,000 Russian Targets
02:40 - Ukraine Drones Strike Omsk Refinery 2500km Deep
04:00 - Ukrainian Drones Hit 11 Major Russian Refineries
05:20 - Russian Su-35 Jets and S-400 Radars Destroyed
06:40 - Ukraine Destroys 236 Russian Shadow Fleet Ships
08:00 - Drone Strikes Inflict $2 Billion Wildberries Damage
09:20 - Russian Fuel Shortages Double Gas Prices In Crimea
10:45 - Kirill Budanov Vows Continuous Drone Strikes Against Russia
12:15 - Russians Face Rising Public Discontent Over War Costs
13:45 - Will Ukraine Drone Campaign Force Putin to Negotiate?
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SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/KX7PmD3T
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Zelenskyy Launches 40 Day Drone Campaign Against Russia
01:20 - Ukraine Drone Strikes Destroy 21,000 Russian Targets
02:40 - Ukraine Drones Strike Omsk Refinery 2500km Deep
04:00 - Ukrainian Drones Hit 11 Major Russian Refineries
05:20 - Russian Su-35 Jets and S-400 Radars Destroyed
06:40 - Ukraine Destroys 236 Russian Shadow Fleet Ships
08:00 - Drone Strikes Inflict $2 Billion Wildberries Damage
09:20 - Russian Fuel Shortages Double Gas Prices In Crimea
10:45 - Kirill Budanov Vows Continuous Drone Strikes Against Russia
12:15 - Russians Face Rising Public Discontent Over War Costs
13:45 - Will Ukraine Drone Campaign Force Putin to Negotiate?
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/KX7PmD3T
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NewsTranscript
00:00Once upon a time there was an insane Russian leader named Vladimir Putin.
00:05Consumed by his desire to go down in history and knowing that the specter of death looms
00:10ever closer as he creeps deeper into his 70s, that man launched an invasion.
00:15It didn't go well. It still isn't going well.
00:18As recompense for his madness, that leader's enemies has unleashed drones that fly deep
00:23into Russia and destroy everything that they see. For 40 days and 40 nights the drones flew.
00:29No. Russia was pummeled. 100 targets were taken out in a month and change of hell.
00:34And as for that insane leader, he was just read the best bedtime story ever told.
00:39He didn't like it one little bit.
00:41I approved a 40-day influence operation for the service against the aggressor state aimed
00:46at compelling it to end the war, declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 25th.
00:52That campaign had a clear purpose. Putin would be influenced to end the war,
00:56Zelensky said. And that influence would come in the form of drones, launched in their hundreds,
01:01that targeted key sites in Russia, the occupied territories, and the front lines.
01:05The goal was clear. Russia needed to feel the pain of the war it started.
01:10To be made to suffer so much by Ukraine's 40 days of firepower, that Putin would have no choice
01:15but to come to the negotiating table. The 40-day campaign is now over.
01:20And though it hasn't achieved its main goal, and Ukraine has something to say about that,
01:24it has delivered on the most important of Zelensky's promises. Thousands of Russian targets
01:29have been destroyed. The numbers are in and they make for the worst bedtime story that Putin has
01:33ever been told. During its campaign, Ukraine managed to conduct over 100 strikes on strategic
01:39targets inside Russia and the occupied territories. The variety was impressive. Oil refineries,
01:45as they have so often been, were hit. Only this time they were hit harder than ever before.
01:50Ukraine's drones paid visits to air bases, air defenses, warships, tankers, logistical centers,
01:55and military industrial plants. Kinetic sanctions flew far and wide. Records were broken and Shadow
02:01Fleet tankers were sent to the bottom of the seas that surround Crimea. And on the front lines and
02:06the near rear, the numbers got even worse for Russia. Ukraine's drones destroyed over 21,000 targets
02:13across the front, and they killed almost 5,000 Russian soldiers in 40 days. That's a kill rate
02:19of 125 per day, with many more ending up with injuries. Equipment was destroyed just as readily
02:25as soldiers. We'll save some of that for the highlights of the campaign that we'll reveal in a
02:29moment. But United24 Media offers plenty to start with. 124 artillery systems were destroyed in
02:35Ukraine's 40-day blitz. Russia lost 63 armored vehicles, 24 tanks, and 22 multiple launch rocket
02:42systems. 14 of Russia's aircraft and choppers went down to Ukraine's drone fire, as did 40 of the
02:49air defense systems that were supposed to prevent all of this from happening. And when it came to
02:53Russia's drones, Ukraine fought fire with fire more effectively than Putin ever imagined it could.
02:59By the end of the campaign, over 11,000 of Russia's drones and ground robots had been reduced to ashes,
03:05along with 712 of the crews tasked with controlling those drones. It must have felt like a non-stop
03:11onslaught for Russia, like chopping away at the heads of a hydra. When one went down, two more took
03:17their place. But we mentioned a little something about highlights, so let's take a look at some of
03:21the standout moments from the 40-day campaign that was filled with pain for Russia. We head to Omsk
03:27first. This settlement, which is nestled away in Siberia, was supposed to be a long way outside of
03:32the reach of Ukraine's drones. More than 2,500 kilometers away from Ukraine, the city was safe.
03:38The perfect place to host one of Russia's largest oil refineries. Of course, you can guess what
03:44happened. Ukraine hit Omsk with drones. The refinery in the city, which was so long out of
03:49reach, got hit hard. Photographs from the scene showcased the fire and smoke rising out of this
03:54key facility. Ukraine's drones broke all previous distance records, flying so deep into Russia that
04:00they ended up close to the border with Kazakhstan. Ukraine didn't target this refinery solely for the
04:05message that it would send about no mission-critical facilities in Russia being safe anymore.
04:10The Omsk refinery is huge, one of the largest in Russia, in fact, as it has an annual refining
04:15capacity of 21 million metric tons of crude oil. It also happens to specialize in making the fuels,
04:21lubricants, and petrochemicals that are the lifeblood of the Russian military in Ukraine.
04:26This strike wasn't just symbolic, it was strategic. Before the 40-day campaign,
04:31Omsk was one of only two of Russia's 10 largest oil refineries that hadn't been visited by Ukraine's
04:37drones. Not anymore. And speaking of Russia's largest oil refineries, that brings us to our
04:42second highlight. Every one of Russia's 11 largest oil refineries has now been hit by a Ukrainian drone.
04:50Ukraine looked at the two out of the 10 largest that were left, hit them both,
04:53and then added a bonus shot for good measure. United24 media broke the news on July 7th,
04:59noting that the Omsk strike was the last on the list that Ukraine needed.
05:02Others have been hit both throughout 2026 and during the 40-day campaign.
05:07Kirishi oil refinery, which processes up to 21 million tons of oil every year,
05:11has been struck constantly. The Kostovo refinery, which processes 17 million tons per year
05:17and produces 4.8 million tons of gasoline, was hit hard on July 2nd,
05:22losing half of its production capacity in the process. The 17.1 million tons that are processed at
05:27the Ryazan refinery aren't going anywhere after a May strike suspended production.
05:32Throughout the spring and summer, Ukraine has targeted both the Yaroslavl and Volgograd refineries,
05:37both of which have processing capacities in the 15 million tons per year region.
05:42Moscow's oil refinery, which is supposed to be another that is safer than most due to its
05:46proximity to Russia's capital city and all of the air defenses that surround it, was hit twice in June,
05:51taking 12 million tons of refining offline. And rounding out the list are the Bashnev Novoel,
05:57Sizran, Perm and Novokybyshevsk refineries, which combine to process 37.8 million tons of crude oil
06:04annually. Russian oil is burning at rates we've never seen before, and though Ukraine's refinery
06:10strikes are nothing new at this point, the 40-day campaign put the exclamation point on the established
06:15fact that none of Russia's most important facilities are safe anymore.
06:19You want more highlights? We've got them!
06:21The 40-day campaign took a massive toll on Russia's air force, as Ukraine tore through over a dozen
06:26aircraft. Among the casualties were a pair of Su-35 fighter jets, which, outside of the Su-57 that
06:33barely sees action in Ukraine, are probably the best fighters that Russia can field. Ukraine destroyed
06:38a Tu-95MS in yet another strike against Russia's strategic bomber fleet. Several older Soviet-era
06:45platforms that Russia uses for its glide bomber missile assaults also went down to Ukrainian drones,
06:51including Su-24s, Su-30s and Su-30SMs. Ukraine also managed to take out a pair of L-39 trainer
06:59aircraft,
07:00which will make it harder for Russia to prepare its pilots for what Putin needs them to do.
07:04With aircraft strikes come attacks on airfields. Belbek, Kanskaya, Saki, Vardiska,
07:10Engels and Bagarova all received visits from Ukraine's drones. For many, these weren't first
07:17time visits, showing just how stretched Russia's air defenses have become. That's a nice little
07:21segue into our next highlight. Russian air defense systems had a very bad time of it during the 40-day
07:27campaign. Ukraine racked up a kill count of one air defense system or radar per day, in a blitz that
07:33has
07:33opened the door for yet more aerial assaults to come. Among them were a 92N6E multi-function radar
07:39that is often used by Russia's S-400 systems, as well as a Nebo-U radar. Russia lost several Pantsir
07:47S-2 and Tor-M-2 air defense systems to Ukraine's drones, along with a Pol-21 electronic warfare
07:53station that is supposed to be able to send Ukraine's drones off course. There's a delicious sense of
07:58irony to all of this. The very weapons that Russia is relying upon to handle Ukraine's drones are
08:04falling to them, showcasing how many of these systems simply aren't fit for purpose because
08:08they struggle to track drones flying at low altitudes. The 40-day campaign only added to
08:14air defense woes that Russia has been struggling with for a while now. As the range of Ukraine's
08:19drones has expanded, Russia has found itself increasingly trying to stretch its air defenses
08:24across larger swathes of its territory. Russia's air defenses are like an elastic band stretched
08:30around a Russian general's bulging waist. Eventually the band goes pop and we're starting
08:34to see the pops happening all over. There are huge gaps in Russia's air defenses now. Russia simply
08:40doesn't have enough systems to defend every single target that Ukraine might want to destroy. Russia
08:45is in panic mode. As even the heavily fortified air defense ring around Moscow is being penetrated,
08:52the Kremlin is trying to shift air defenses around to protect priority targets, but that's just
08:56creating more vulnerabilities, both on the front and in the rear, for Ukraine to exploit.
09:01And now 40 more systems and radars are gone. Putin knows what that means. More of Ukraine's drones
09:07are going to find success. We have one more highlight for you before we move on. Russia's shadow fleet in
09:13the waters around Crimea isn't doing well. Throughout July, Ukraine unleashed strike after strike against
09:19shadow fleet ships in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. For the most part, Ukraine seemed to target
09:24vessels that were supplying Crimea with fuel and supplies as part of its wider strategy to isolate
09:29the peninsula and force Putin to relinquish his hold over the territory that Russia stole in 2014.
09:35That campaign hasn't stopped. By July 29th, Euromiden Press was reporting that Ukraine had struck
09:40201 of Russia's ships in just three weeks. An update came from the Defense of Ukraine
09:45X account on August 6th. The number rose to 236 boats and ships destroyed in July alone,
09:52with the majority of the attacks being carried out at ranges above 50 kilometers. Ukraine now
09:57claims that it has fire control over the waters that surround Crimea. It's hard to argue.
10:03Russia seems unable to do anything to stop these strikes against its Crimean shipping.
10:07What we have here is a huge amount of Russian equipment sent to the scrappy, along with soldiers
10:12sent to their graves. But what did Ukraine really achieve with its 40-day campaign?
10:17We'll dig into that answer right after this reminder that you are watching the military show.
10:22If you haven't subscribed yet, now's the perfect time to hit the button
10:25and enable notifications so you don't miss what we have in store.
10:30Here's what Ukraine did during 40 days.
10:33It brought the war back to Russia perhaps more than it ever has before.
10:38This wasn't a series of random strikes carried out when the opportunities arose.
10:42Ukraine planned all of this. It knew precisely what it was going to hit, where and when.
10:48Every drone it launched went into the skies with a purpose that had been predefined before
10:53the campaign began. Ukraine wasn't reactive, it was proactive in a campaign designed to exert
10:58the maximum possible pressure on Putin. That aspect of the campaign was extremely effective.
11:03At the midpoint of the campaign, The Economist published an article covering Ukraine's strikes
11:08against Russia's wild berries facilities, which is another highlight that we didn't cover.
11:13You'll find out why at the end of the video. But Ukraine's drone campaign has done at least
11:17$2 billion worth of damage to a company that is basically Russia's Amazon, piling pressure on
11:23the vendors and buyers who use the platform alike. Every strike that Ukraine carried out during its
11:2840-day hell storm served the same purpose. Refineries were hit to stop Russians from having easy access
11:34to fuel. The same goes for Crimea occupiers and the Shadow Fleet strikes. Even the attacks against
11:40Russia's military hardware serve as reminders that a war that Putin promised would never extend beyond
11:45Ukraine's borders has now come to Russia. And it can hit almost any part of Russia. The Omsk
11:52strike proved that. Russia's leadership is feeling the impact. Public discontent is rising, The Economist
11:59reports. According to VCIOM, a pollster close to the Kremlin, satisfaction with government policies
12:05has fallen from 45% in January to 21% in June. The number of people who think Russia is
12:10heading in the
12:11wrong direction has doubled from 17% to 35% in the past year, says Lavada, an independent pollster. Of
12:18course, damaging Russia's military was and remains a priority. But these 40 days of attacks were also
12:24about the psychological damage that Ukraine did to the Russian people. 100 plus strikes on Russian soil
12:30in 40 days are nothing to be sniffed at. If anything, it's a bright red flag hoisted into the air
12:36for every
12:36Russian to see. They know that their great protector Putin has failed them. For Ukraine, this is a case of
12:42turnabout is fair play. Psychological warfare is a strategy that Russia has employed from the moment
12:48that it invaded. For Russia, that means carrying out constant attacks against Ukrainian cities,
12:54often killing or injuring civilians in the process. Through the winter, it also meant non-stop attacks
12:59against Ukraine's energy grid. Ukraine hasn't gone off the deep end to join Putin and his lackeys,
13:04it doesn't conduct direct strikes against civilians. But it has decided that a strategy of psychological
13:09warfare is fair game, given everything that Russia has done and continues to do. Ukraine's goal is to
13:15make life uncomfortable for the average Russian and in the case of the occupiers in Crimea,
13:20to make life flat out untenable. There is no better example of this than the fuel shortages that have
13:26racked Russia throughout the 40-day campaign. Ukraine hasn't hit refineries and shadow fleet ships just
13:31because it can. It wants Russian gasoline and diesel burning anywhere but inside Russian vehicles. And if it
13:37can't burn, that fuel needs to become a hot commodity that prices Russian consumers out of buying it.
13:42Throughout July, Ukraine has mostly achieved its goal. In some Russian regions, particularly in Crimea,
13:48the price of gasoline has doubled. Queues, some stretching for multiple kilometers, have become
13:53a common sight outside Russia's gas stations, as drivers end up searching for any pumps that still have fuel.
13:59Ukraine's refinery attacks have slashed about a third from Russia's standard refining output,
14:04leaving it at levels that were last seen in 2002, United24 media reports. The facilities that Ukraine has
14:10struck during its 40-day campaign account for 45% of Russia's total refining capacity, and this single
14:16aspect of the pressure campaign is believed to have cost Russia about $13.5 billion throughout 2026.
14:23It's all about driving discontent. Well, not driving. There are far fewer Russians who have
14:28been able to do much of that due to what Ukraine has spent the last 40 days doing. The one
14:32saving grace
14:33for Russia is that Gazprom Neft, which is one of the country's largest fuel sellers, has reportedly
14:38lifted purchase limits across 13 Russian regions, where it was forced to ration fuel. How long that
14:44will last is anybody's guess, especially if Ukraine decides to escalate its refinery strikes.
14:48But again, it's all about the pressure. The Economist highlighted that with the poll numbers
14:52that it shared, and the Kyiv Post did the same thing in a July 4 article, where it proclaimed that
14:57a
14:57record number of Russians now want Putin to bring an end to his special military operation.
15:02The outlet says that a survey conducted by a Ukraine-based pollster, the Institute for
15:06Conflictology and Analysis of Russia, found that only 9% of Russians want to continue the war
15:12until their country achieves a complete victory. 81% of those quizzed said they would much rather see
15:17an immediate end to the fighting, especially in light of just how much it's costing them and their country.
15:23This turning of the tide of public opinion in Russia is nothing short of a success for Ukraine's 40-day
15:28campaign.
15:29But we also can't ignore the elephant in the room. The goal was to force Putin to come to the
15:34table
15:34by the end of the 40 days of sustained pressure, and that hasn't happened. It's unlikely that many,
15:39perhaps including Zelensky himself, truly believed that the psychopath hiding in bunkers
15:44deep underground would declare peace. However, Ukraine inflicted tangible damage across Russia,
15:49and it continued to pile the pressure on Putin at a time when approval for his invasion
15:53has slumped to new lows within his own country. That's a win for Ukraine.
15:58As for what happens next, it's more of the same. Putin didn't come to the table after 40 days,
16:03so Ukraine is going to unleash a new campaign. We will continue. Don't get hung up on all these arguments.
16:0940, 50, 100 or 15 days. What matters is the result. It's not so much about how we enter this
16:15process.
16:15What's far more important is what we come out with. To emerge from it with the desired result,
16:20we must be strong. Those are the words of the head of the presidential office, Kirill Budanov,
16:25upon the conclusion of the 40-day campaign. This is a warning. If Putin, his cronies,
16:30and the Russian people thought that the nightmare they've just endured was all over just because the
16:3440-day deadline was hit, they have another thing coming. Lots of things in the sky and ready to strike.
16:40And if there were any doubts that Budanov was telling the truth, then Ukraine's drone operators
16:45have already dispelled them. They've let their weapons do the talking. On August 6th,
16:50Ukraine carried out two more refinery strikes, this time at the Bashnev-Novoel and Slavnev-Yanos
16:55refineries. The message has been sent loud and clear. Russia may have survived the 40-day blitz,
17:01but the pressure won't let up. Ukraine will force Putin to the table, even if it means every
17:06refinery in Russia has to burn. Now, we mentioned another highlight of the 40-day campaign,
17:11the wild berry strikes. We had a good reason for not going into detail. We've already done it.
17:16Those strikes may end up being the most important aspect of Ukraine's pressure campaign,
17:20and you can find out why by watching our video. And if you enjoyed this analysis of Russia's month
17:25plus of pain, then subscribe to The Military Show to be among the first to see what we have coming
17:30next.
17:30And thank you for watching.
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