Ukraine Finds a New Set of Targets

U krainians have gotten used to awful news.

But even by their standards, the past several days have felt dismal.

Russian missile strikes are pounding Ukrainian cities relentlessly.

Donald Trump announced a deal last week to buy Russian diesel fuel.

Then came reports about disruptions in U.S. support to Ukraine, including the Starlink communication system.

Together, these developments have caused alarm in Kyiv on a scale rarely seen since the start of the war.

The only letup in the gloom appeared on Friday, when Ukrainians had a chance to imagine their tormentor, Vladimir Putin, aboard his presidential plane, seething as it circled over Moscow, unable to land in his own capital.

A swarm of Ukrainian drones had forced the closure of the city’s Moscow’s airports that day—all four of them—as Putin flew home from a trip to Turkmenistan.

His plane, known as the Flying Kremlin, does not appear to have been the target.

“It was purely coincidental,” a military officer familiar with the operation told me.

“Just a matter of chance.” Still, to many Ukrainians, it tasted briefly of revenge, and it showed that their military still has ways to hurt Russia’s economy and its leader, even if Trump decides to abandon them.

On Tuesday night, nearly 500 drones attacked Moscow, again prompting the closure of its airports, according to the city’s mayor.

Such methods may not be enough to force Putin to negotiate.

But they allow Ukraine, if it chooses, to stay in the fight and keep up the pressure on Moscow to come to the table.