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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that strikes on Moscow and the surrounding region serve as a clear signal to Russian forces not to engage in an unjust war against Ukraine.
According to a post on the President’s Telegram channel, Zelensky stated that Ukrainian Defence Forces, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and intelligence agencies carried out a large-scale wave of deep strikes against targets in the Moscow region.
“This time the distance to the targets was more than 500 kilometers. This is significant because the Moscow region is heavily protected by Russian air defense systems, yet our long-range drones are able to penetrate them,” Zelensky said.
He added that Ukraine’s partners are increasingly acknowledging changes in both the perception of the war and the vulnerability of Russian territory.
“War is quite predictably returning to its ‘home port,’” Zelensky said, using a rhetorical phrase.
The President stressed that deep-strike capabilities are an important signal that aggression against Ukraine comes at a cost, including inside Russia itself. He also noted that Ukrainian forces carried out additional strikes on targets in temporarily occupied territories, including Crimea.
Zelensky concluded that long-range strike capability is significantly changing the battlefield dynamics and global perception of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Earlier reports indicated that on the night of May 17, Russia experienced one of the most extensive drone attacks since the start of the war, with multiple strategic facilities in Moscow and the surrounding region reportedly hit, including energy infrastructure and microelectronics production sites.
