How Ukraine's 40-Day Drone Campaign Turned Crimea Into a Russian Liability

Here is a fact-checked breakdown of the key developments and their impacts.

Authorization and Strategic Intent

Zelensky confirmed on June 25 that he had approved a fixed-duration operation by the SBU. "I sanctioned a 40-day operation by the Security Service to exert pressure on the aggressor nation with the goal of urging an end to the conflict," he stated on Telegram . The campaign was designed to make the war "hurt deep inside Russia" until Moscow agreed to negotiate .

Dismantling Crimea's Energy Grid: 48 Hours of Precision Strikes

On July 1 and 2, Ukrainian drones struck 12 electrical substations and 1 gas distribution station across temporarily occupied territories, including Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk. This was reported by Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Unmanned Systems Forces .

The 48-hour salvo specifically hit the 35 kV Ozernenska substation in Crimea, along with other critical nodes in the peninsula's power network . Multiple sources confirm the count was 12 substations plus a gas distribution station, correcting the earlier claim of "10" .

These strikes were part of a broader "middle strike campaign" that had been intensifying for weeks. By June 9, Brovdi reported that Russian military cargo traffic along the M-18 road through Tokmak — dubbed the "highway of death" — had fallen by 71% over the previous two weeks .

July 1: SBU Strike on Su-30 Hangars at Saky Airfield

On the same day the massive energy strike began, the SBU struck hangars housing Russian Su-30 fighter jets at the Saky military airfield in occupied Crimea . Drone operators from the SBU's Special Operations Center "Alpha" recorded five confirmed hits on the hangars. Each Su-30SM fighter jet is valued at up to $50 million .

This was not an isolated event. The SBU had struck Saky and the nearby Hvardiyske airfield multiple times in the preceding week, also targeting S-400 air defense systems and Pantsir-S1 systems near the Kerch Strait .

Civilian Life Collapses: State of Emergency, Fuel Ban, and Power Outages

The cumulative effect of the drone campaign on civilian life in Crimea was severe and immediate:

• State of emergency: On June 26, Russian-installed head of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov declared a state of emergency, acknowledging that the energy supply remained "difficult" .
• Fuel sales halted: Starting around June 22, local authorities halted fuel sales for both the public and businesses. Gas stations were shuttered, and long queues formed, with one resident telling the BBC: "There petrol at filling station but they not selling it" .
• Summer camps cancelled: On June 22, Aksyonov suspended children's summer camps and all tourist activities until September — a devastating blow for a region that relied heavily on Russian summer tourism .
• Widespread blackouts: Sevastopol, Crimea's largest city, experienced persistent power outages. The main 330/220/110/35 kV substation was struck, disrupting electricity, water supply, communications, stores, and public transportation .

A "Drone-Enforced Blockade"

Observers described the campaign as a "drone-enforced blockade" that severed logistics routes and created severe fuel and energy shortages . The Kerch Strait Bridge — Russia's only direct land link to Crimea — has been repeatedly targeted, forcing reliance on ferry crossings that are themselves vulnerable .

The campaign was ongoing at the time of this analysis, with further strikes reported on energy and military facilities beyond the initial 40-day window .

Crimea's Transformation into a Logistical Liability

Before 2026, Crimea was a symbol of Russian revanchism. After a decade of occupation, the peninsula had been integrated into Russia's military and tourism economy. The 40-day campaign changed that equation.

The cumulative evidence — fuel bans, power blackouts, cancelled summer tourism, damaged airfields, severed supply routes, and a declared state of emergency — strongly supports the conclusion that Crimea has been transformed from a prized imperial territory into a severe logistical burden for the Kremlin . The peninsula now struggles to supply itself, and the forces stationed there are increasingly isolated.

What Remains Unconfirmed

Not every claim about the campaign could be verified from the available sources:

• The figure of "over 500 separate Ukrainian attacks on Russian logistics between May 1 and June 18" could not be directly confirmed in the search results. It is plausible given the scale of the "middle strike campaign" documented by Wikipedia , but the precise number may come from Ukrainian military briefings not captured in these source snippets.
• The claim of "over 100 daily drone strikes" was also not directly verified in the available sources.

Summary of Evidence Certainty