Ukrainian Attacks Spur State of Emergency Declaration in Crimea

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/world/europe/crimea-ukraine-state-emergency.html

Ukrainian Attacks Spur State of Emergency Declaration in Crimea
Weeks of intense strikes by Ukraine have rattled everyday life in Crimea to an extent unseen since Russia illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014.
By Ivan Nechepurenko and Nataliya Vasilyeva
June 26, 2026 Updated 10:14 a.m. ET

The authorities in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula controlled by Russia, declared a state of emergency on Friday after weeks of intense air attacks by Ukraine, including a wave of drone strikes overnight that appears to have been one of the largest since the war began.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that its air defenses had intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones overnight. Crimea and about a dozen other regions were targeted, according to the ministry, which said nothing about damage or casualties. Later on Friday, the ministry said 46 additional Ukrainian drones had been destroyed that morning.

Advances in Ukrainian drone and missile production have enabled Kyiv to launch bigger attacks, farther away from the front, that can more easily overwhelm Russia’s air defenses. Over the past several months, Ukraine has carried out increasingly heavy air attacks on Crimea and parts of Russia, puncturing the peace that Russian civilians had largely enjoyed during the four-year-old war.

The assaults have underscored how President Vladimir V. Putin’s ability to isolate Russian society from the impacts of the war is sharply eroding. In Kyiv, they have reinforced a growing sense of confidence that it would be able to force Mr. Putin to the negotiating table, even as Russia continues to hammer Ukraine with missiles and drones, exploiting its air defense shortage.

Last week, Ukraine carried out its largest drone strike on the Moscow region since the war began, which forced the suspension of flights at the capital’s four international airports, severely damaged a major oil refinery, injured at least 17 people and killed an 8-year-old girl. Russia’s defense ministry said it downed 992 drones across the country in that attack, the largest number in a single assault and a significant increase from previous onslaughts.

...