DISINFO: Through drone attacks on Russia, Ukraine tries to reset a war it already lost
SUMMARY
On Sunday, Ukrainian drones struck five long-range Russian airbases across Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions. With this last drone parade, Ukraine tries to reset a war it already lost. With dwindling weapons, collapsing morale, and no strategic gains, Ukraine turns to spectacle as a last resort. Tactical stunts may buy media attention, but they don’t reverse battlefield trends. Ukraine’s leadership has become adept at orchestrating dramatic military theater. But bold visuals aside, these attacks are unlikely to change the war’s trajectory – or Kyiv’s negotiating hand.
RESPONSE
This disinformation story aims to promote a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the inevitability of a Russian victory in the war in Ukraine, while downplaying the impact of 1 June 2025 drone raid carried out by Ukraine’s special services against Russian air bases and aircraft regularly used to bomb Ukrainian territory.
Although the final result of by the drone attack remained unclear at the moment of the publication of this disinformation story, Ukraine claimed that it had hit more than 40 Russian aircraft, destroying 34 per cent of Russia's fleet of air missile carriers and causing over 7 billion dollars in damages. While this estimates may be not accurate and inflated for propagandistic purposes, footage of the operation and independent verification confirmed that at least 13 aircraft were destroyed.
This disinformation story appeared as Russia and Ukraine prepared to meet in Istanbul for a fresh round of peace conversations. In this context, pro-Kremlin disinformation tries to portray Russia in a situation of overwhelming superiority against Ukraine, something that it is far from true. While a shortage of military manpower remains a real difficulty for Ukraine, this also affects Russia. Since early 2025, massive losses have slowed down Russian advances in the Ukrainian frontlines, making Russia’s war effort unsustainable in the medium term.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Russia holds all the cards while Ukraine badly needs a respite, that Putin’s proposal shows his greatness by giving the defeated a chance to negotiate, that Ukraine cannot dictate the peace terms because it lost the war, that the Nazi Zelenskyy regime is within months of falling, that UK and France are unable to accept defeat in Ukraine, or that Ukraine and Europe have lost in the Ukrainian conflict.