Ukrainian forces have opened the year by tearing holes in Russia’s layered air defenses, striking high‑value systems in occupied Crimea and near Donetsk while also hitting drone infrastructure and logistics hubs deep behind the front. The latest wave of attacks, built around long‑range drones and precision strikes, has destroyed multiple surface‑to‑air systems that were supposed to shield Russian positions from exactly this kind of assault. Together, these operations signal a deliberate campaign to make Crimea and the eastern rear areas more vulnerable to future Ukrainian moves in the air and on the ground.
The strikes are not isolated blows but part of a coordinated effort that Ukrainian commanders describe as a methodical hunt for radars, launchers, and drone bases across the south and east. By pairing new unmanned capabilities with detailed reconnaissance, they are forcing Russian units to disperse, relocate, and consume scarce air‑defense assets just to keep up. I see a pattern emerging in which Ukraine is trying to turn Russia’s own strategy of deep strikes and attrition back against it, targeting the very systems that underpin Moscow’s offensive campaign.
Crimea’s shield punctured by precision strikes
At the heart of the recent operations is Crimea, the peninsula Russia has turned into a sprawling military hub and which Ukraine now treats as a legitimate battlefield. Ukrainian officials say their forces hit Russian air‑defense assets on the peninsula, including systems guarding key military facilities and supply routes that connect Crimea to occupied southern Ukraine. Reporting describes how Ukrainian units used long‑range drones and other strike assets to reach targets that Moscow had assumed were safely protected by layered defenses, including advanced radars and short‑range interceptors that form the last line of protection for bases and depots.
One of the most significant blows was the reported destruction of a Russian Nebo‑U long‑range radar and a Pantsir‑S1 system in a concentrated attack in Crimea, a strike that Ukrainian sources say severely degraded local tracking and interception capability. The loss of the Nebo‑U, which is designed to detect aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles at extended ranges, and the Pantsir‑S1, which is meant to shoot those threats down, leaves a gap in Russia’s ability to spot and counter incoming drones over the peninsula, according to accounts of the Crimea strike. Ukrainian officials frame this as part of a broader effort to make Crimea’s skies more permissive for future operations, a view echoed in assessments that describe Russian air defenses on the peninsula as increasingly strained.
Drone depot and air defenses near Donetsk under fire
While Crimea draws much of the attention, Ukrainian forces have also gone after Russian assets near Donetsk, focusing on both air defenses and the drones that Russia uses to harass Ukrainian cities and front‑line positions. Ukrainian statements say that units struck Russian air‑defense elements and a storage site for unmanned systems in the temporarily occupied Donetsk region, targeting infrastructure that supports reconnaissance and attack drones. The reported hits on these facilities suggest a deliberate attempt to disrupt Russian drone operations at their source rather than only intercepting them in the air.
One operation highlighted by Ukrainian officials involved a strike on a drone storage site associated with Rubikon, a Russian operator that uses unmanned systems from bases in occupied territory. Ukrainian sources say forces targeted this Rubikon‑linked facility and a fuel‑transfer station in the same area, describing both as part of a network that sustains Russian drone sorties from the Donetsk region into Ukrainian‑held territory. The attack on the Rubikon drone base is presented as part of a wider campaign to degrade Russian strike capacity by hitting the logistics and storage nodes that keep its unmanned fleet in the air.
Forty‑eight hours that shook Russian air defenses
The most striking illustration of Ukraine’s evolving approach came over a compressed period when Ukrainian units reported a string of successful attacks on Russian air‑defense systems across several occupied regions. The Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces stated that they destroyed six enemy air‑defense systems within a span of 48 hours, hitting targets deep in temporarily occupied territory. These systems included both missile launchers and radar stations, and Ukrainian commanders emphasized that the strikes were carried out by drones that the Russian side had deployed specifically to counter.
Another report from the same period noted that, over 48 hours from Jan 12 to 14, the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces reported strikes on six Russian air‑defense systems in occupied areas, underscoring how concentrated and coordinated the campaign has become. A separate account described how The Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces used mid‑range drones to destroy multiple Russian systems and radar assets, presenting the operation as a showcase of how unmanned platforms can pick apart even heavily protected positions when guided by precise intelligence. In that narrative, the phrase Ukrainian Unmanned Systems is used to highlight the specialized nature of the units now leading these deep strikes.
Targets from Zaporizhzhia to Crimea: a widening kill list
Beyond Crimea and Donetsk, Ukrainian reports point to a broader geographic spread of air‑defense targets, including systems in the Zaporizhzhia region and other occupied areas. One detailed account describes how Ukrainian forces destroyed six Russian air‑defense assets in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia within a short window, including a Buk system in the Polohy district of Zaporizhzhia region and a Buk‑M1 elsewhere behind the front line. The description of a Buk in Polohy and other systems being hit deep behind Russian positions underscores how Ukrainian planners are prioritizing medium‑range complexes that protect logistics hubs and troop concentrations.
Other reporting reinforces this picture, noting that Ukraine destroyed six Russian air‑defense systems in 48 hours using drones that those same systems were supposed to intercept. A technical breakdown of the strikes notes that Ukrainian mid‑range drones destroyed not only launchers but also radar and military‑industrial sites, amplifying the impact by hitting both the weapons and the infrastructure that supports them. Another analysis of the same period, framed under the heading Jan operations, stresses that the enemy lost several valuable anti‑aircraft missile systems and radar stations at once, a blow that is difficult to replace quickly given production and training constraints.
Strategic implications for the wider war
These tactical successes feed into a larger strategic contest over who controls the airspace above the front and the occupied rear. Analytical assessments of the Russian offensive campaign argue that Moscow has been relying heavily on its remaining air‑defense network to shield logistics hubs, ammunition depots, and staging areas that support ground operations in eastern and southern Ukraine. As Ukrainian strikes chip away at that network, particularly in Crimea and around Donetsk, Russian commanders are forced to reposition systems, accept more risk to key facilities, or divert scarce assets from other sectors. One recent campaign assessment notes that Ukrainian attacks on Russian air defenses and logistics nodes are complicating Russia’s ability to sustain offensive pressure along multiple axes, a trend highlighted in an offensive campaign assessment that tracks these developments.
Ukrainian officials, for their part, present the strikes as a necessary precondition for protecting cities and front‑line troops from Russian missile and drone attacks while also setting the stage for future operations. Reports from Ukrainian sources describe how the Defense Forces of Ukraine hit Russian air‑defense elements and a drone storage site near Donetsk in Crimea, as well as an ammunition depot in the Zaporizhzhia region, framing these actions as part of a systematic effort to erode Russia’s ability to project power from occupied territory. One account notes that the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck Russian air‑defense elements and a drone storage site near Donetsk in Crimea, while another describes how Ukrainian forces hit Russian air defenses in Crimea and a drone depot near Donetsk, underscoring the dual focus on both the shield and the spear of Russia’s war effort.
More from Morning Overview