Ukraine has carried out one of its broadest recent drone offensives against Russia's maritime and energy infrastructure, claiming strikes on 21 vessels over three days alongside intensified attacks on major refineries deep inside Russia. The campaign has added to pressure on Moscow's fuel supplies — reportedly prompting a ban on diesel exports — and served as a demonstration of Ukraine's expanding long-range strike capability beyond the conventional front line.

The offensive coincided with a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara on 8 July 2026, where Trump said the United States would allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot air-defence interceptors and the two leaders discussed a possible drone agreement. Zelenskyy described air defence as his "priority" and called the emerging drone deal "a very good beginning". Trump praised Ukrainian forces as "very effective" in operating American-supplied weapons. While Kyiv has not achieved a comparable breakthrough in the ground war and Russia continues to bombard Ukrainian cities, the repeated long-range strikes are forcing Moscow to defend refineries, airfields and shipping routes far from the front.