Today there are a lot of interesting updates from the Russian Federation.

Here, Ukraine has officially unleashed its newly developed bomber drones, marking a major escalation in its ability to strike deep into Russian territory. With advanced precision, extended range, and overwhelming cost-efficiency, these drones are already devastating Russian military infrastructure—setting the stage for a transformative shift in the battlefield dynamic.

Over the weeks, the Ukrainians conducted a series of successful strikes against military and economic targets in Russia, which resulted in damage to over half a hundred military industrial factories, strategic airbases, microelectronics producers, chemical plants, fiber optic facilities, and key logistical routes, including the Kerch bridge. 

Recently, Ukrainians presented the new Batyar-S strike drone, which resembles the Russian Shahed and Geranium strike drones, but only on the outside. Designed from scratch, the new Ukrainian drone has an effective flight range of over 800 kilometers (497 miles) while carrying an 18-kilogram explosive warhead. 

Additionally, the drone is lighter than Shahed, weighing only 60 kilograms, which allows the Ukrainians to deploy it using trucks as launch platforms, making it easy to quickly and efficiently deploy it for any strikes. On top of that, it features superior optical systems that analyze landscapes and terrain in real-time, combining them with satellite footage to adjust its flight trajectory towards the target, and stay as low as possible to evade radar detection and air defenses.

However, one of its biggest advantages is that the Batyar-S drone costs approximately 4 times less than the Ukrainian strike drones currently in use, meaning that Ukrainians will be able to produce four times as many drones and strike 4 times the targets.

As the Ukrainians focus their development on drone technology for various purposes, they have also developed a new bomber drone, the B-1.  B-1 drones are ultralight bomber drones designed to destroy concentrations of manpower, trucks, armored vehicles, and military strongholds on the frontline and in the rear. 

Bomber drones are designed to carry repurposed drone-droppable hand grenades, artillery shells, or other explosives on Russian positions as they fly over their target. The light weight of the drone and its low-noise engine allow it to fly towards Russian lines almost unnoticed, while the drone itself can stay in the air for several hours.

Early frontline reports suggest the drone is extremely resilient against Russian electronic warfare, making it a deadly precision weapon that can hit targets far beyond the range of pre-existing Ukrainian bomber drones like the Vampire hexacopter, already nicknamed the Baba Yaga by both Russian and Ukrainian soldiers for its deadliness. 

The newly developed drone technologies will massively enhance Ukrainian strike capabilities against Russian targets on the frontline and in the deep rear. Ukrainian strikes have already damaged and destroyed production facilities, essential for rebuilding Russia’s strategic bomber fleet after they lost a third of them during Operation Spiderweb.

Ukrainians have also crippled direct Russian production of weapons and ammunition manufacturing, with strikes on long range drone and fiber optic facilities, ammunition factories, and chemical and technical facilities producing rockets and missiles. Now, with the new drones, Ukrainians will be able to strike four times more targets, and much more effectively, promising death and destruction for the Russian frontline and the rear. 

Overall, the Ukrainians effectively maximized the results of their precision strikes against targets in Russia, while developing new drones based on the experience gained from these strikes. These new variants will be able to hit Russia like never before and seriously undermine the Russian summer offensive; as the Russians go all-in for this summer, so are the Ukrainians, promising a decisive military campaign over the next few months, which might well decide the outcome of the war in Ukraine. 

In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Ukrainian drones struck the Tambov Gunpowder Factory in Russia’s Tambov Oblast during the night of 11 June, marking the latest attack on a facility that supplies explosives to Russian military forces.

Acting governor of Tambov oblast Yevgeny Pervyshov confirmed that authorities repelled what he described as a “massive drone attack” on the city of Kotovsk, 700 km (434 miles) away from the Ukrainian border. Pervyshov said law enforcement officers responded to the scene and that “the situation is under control.”

Russian Telegram channels Astra and Mash provided additional details about the incident. Local residents told Astra that the drones targeted the gunpowder factory, which subsequently caught fire. Mash reported that 15 explosions occurred during the attack.

Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council, noted that the facility has been attacked “not for the first time” and indicated that the factory has paused operations following the strike.

The Tambov Gunpowder Factory produces ammunition and gunpowder for small arms, artillery, and rocket systems, as well as colloxilin used in explosives manufacturing. The enterprise manufactures over 200 product types, including pyroxylin gunpowders for small arms, hand grenades, grenade launcher ammunition, and artillery shells.

The factory operates as part of the Rostec state corporation and serves as one of Russia’s primary suppliers of explosive materials to its armed forces. Production at the facility increased substantially following the start of the full-scale invasion in Ukraine.

This attack continues a pattern of Ukrainian strikes on the facility. Previous drone attacks occurred in January 2024, July 2024, and November 2023, demonstrating the site’s recurring status as a military target.

Ukraine launched overnight drone strikes on Russian military infrastructure and Russian-occupied power facilities, including an airfield in Rostov Oblast and energy infrastructure in occupied parts of southern Ukraine, leading to damage and power outages.

Millerovo air base targeted in drone attack

In the early hours of 5 June, explosions were reported across Russia’s Rostov Oblast, adjacent to eastern Ukraine’s occupied Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. According to Russian news Telegram channel Astra, local residents claimed that a military airfield in Millerovo came under drone attack. Acting governor of Rostov Oblast Yuriy Slyusar later confirmed that drones were active in the Millerovo district, though he did not explicitly confirm an attack on the airfield.

He stated that debris from the downed drones allegedly caused damage in the village of Sulin, hit structures on two properties on Dachna Street. One house ostensibly had a partially destroyed roof, while another suffered broken windows and torn electric wiring. He added that “No civilians were injured according to emergency services on the ground. The military continues to repel the enemy’s attack. Information is being clarified.”

Occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts suffer blackouts

In a separate development, Russian-installed “Kherson Oblast governor” Vladimir Saldo claimed that more than 120,000 people in Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Oblast were left without electricity and water after a strike on a main transformer substation.

The hit allegedly occurred at 23:10 and resulted in a total blackout for 192 settlements across seven “municipal districts” – a term not used in Ukraine’s territorial structure – including Henichesk, Novotroitske, and Velyka Lepetykha.

Occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast reportedly also experienced blackouts. Head of the Russian occupation administration in the region, Yevgeny Balitsky, blamed Ukrainian forces for shelling the area, stating that “no fewer than five explosions were recorded over Melitopol,” along with an attempted strike on a power substation. Power outages were reported in parts of Melitopol, Prymorsk, Enerhodar, and Akimivka.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a forceful message on 5 June, highlighting the sheer scale of Russian attacks and warning global leaders that inaction emboldens the Kremlin.

In his 5 June statement, Zelenskyy revealed that since the beginning of the year, Russia has launched nearly 27,700 aerial bombs, approximately 11,200 Shahed-type explosive drones, around 9,000 other attack UAVs, and over 700 missiles, including ballistic ones.

“And that’s in less than half a year,” he noted.

He accused Russia of restructuring its entire state, society, and economy to conduct mass killings in other countries with impunity.

“This is the pace of Russian strikes, and they deliberately set this tempo from the very first days of the full-scale war,” he said.

“Russia is giving the finger to the entire world”

Reacting to Trump’s announcement of his phone call with Putin, Zelenskyy criticized ongoing diplomatic failures.

“Many have spoken with Russia at various levels. But none of these talks have brought a reliable peace,” he stated, arguing that Putin continues to feel “impunity. Even after all of Russia’s horrific attacks, he is reportedly preparing yet more so-called ‘responses’.”

He warned that delays in diplomacy only fuel further aggression.

“With every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world — to all those who still hesitate to increase pressure on it,” Zelenskyy said.

Warning against weakness and silence

Zelenskyy said the only way to stop Putin is by demonstrating strength.

“If the world reacts weakly to Putin’s threats, he interprets it as a readiness to turn a blind eye to his actions,” he said. “When he does not feel strength and pressure, but instead senses weakness, he always commits new crimes.”

According to the Ukrainian president, weak responses amount to silent permission for future atrocities. He thanked all international actors “who tell the killer that he will be held accountable” and stressed that “Russian missiles and bombs must stop taking innocent lives.”

“If the powerful do not stop Putin, it means they share responsibility with him,” Zelenskyy said. “And if they want to stop him but cannot, then Putin will no longer see them as powerful.”

Trump: Putin “will have to respond”

On the same day, Donald Trump stated on Truth Social that Putin warned of retaliation after Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Russian bomber airfields.

“President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Trump wrote, offering no criticism of Russia’s stated intent to escalate attacks on Ukrainian civilians.

The highly successful Ukrainian Operation Spiderweb targeting Russia’s strategic bomber fleet took place on 1 June, but Trump remained silent about it until referencing Putin’s threats of retaliation.