Ukraine Launches Long-Range Strikes After Trump Criticizes War Effort

Following a tense February 2025 meeting where Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine was "not winning" and had "no cards," Kyiv launched a strategic campaign of long-range strikes inside Russia. Ukraine targeted oil refineries, defense manufacturing centers, and retail warehouses to disrupt Russian revenue and bring the conflict's impact to the Russian civilian population.

These operations included drone attacks on Russian bombers and strikes in St. Petersburg, which forced Russia to scale down its May 9 military parade. Ukraine also targeted Crimea to render the peninsula unusable as a Russian staging ground. These actions contributed to a summer fuel crisis within Russia.

By a July NATO summit, Donald Trump shifted his tone, describing Zelenskyy as "very effective" and stating they had developed a "good relationship." Despite this diplomatic shift and an increase in domestic weapons production, Ukraine continues to face critical shortages of American Patriot air defense missiles and struggles with the accuracy of its own long-range missiles compared to Western systems.