By David Sole, June 22, 2026, https://fighting-words.net/
Ukraine’s use of large numbers of drones to attack deep into Russian territory are not slowing Russian military advances on the ground. The entire, Western backed, drone campaign is actually designed to divert attention from battlefield losses that are bringing Russia closer to full control of the Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR).
Western media have given widespread coverage to the few successful strikes by long range drones that have gotten past Russian air defenses. For example on June 18 NPR reported online that “Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defenses destroyed nearly 200 Ukrainian drones on approach to the capital — but acknowledged that several had managed to hit the city’s main oil refinery for the second time this week.” But playing up the occasional successes hides the fact that their military significance is negligible. https://www.npr.org/2026/06/
The value for Ukraine is in projecting the illusion of military success that will insure continued financial and political support from the US and European backers in this proxy war. Such backing is critical for the Zelensky regime. On June 4 the House of Representatives, in a bipartisan action, passed a new financial aid bill for Ukraine. “ According to PBS “The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., seeks to cement U.S. assistance for Ukraine by providing more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid. It would make another $8 billion available for Ukraine’s defense through loans.” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/
Earlier in the Spring, the European Union allotted $106 billion to keep Ukraine fighting Russia. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/
Ukraine’s drone war is also dependent on Western supplies and financing. Guiding and targeting for long range drones also depends on satellite information supplied by the US and other NATO powers. The official GOV.UK web site revealed on June 18 that “The UK will provide 150,000 drones to Ukraine by the end of the year as part of a £752 million funding package to help Ukraine defend their freedom and sovereignty….The package will deliver more than 350 air defence missiles and radars, including Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMM) and ground-based radar systems by the end of 2026.” https://www.gov.uk/government/
On May 11 the Kyiv Poar reported that “Germany and Ukraine are planning to deepen defense cooperation by jointly developing and producing drones, including long-range systems capable of flying up to 1,500 kilometers (932 miles), German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said during a visit to Ukraine.” The article goes on to explain that Germany wants to strengthen its own military capabilities by learning from its proxy’s continuing military suffering. “Germany is also interested in learning from Ukraine’s battlefield experience and modern warfare practices, including Ukrainian combat management systems known as DELTA and operational experience gained during the war, the minister said, quoting Pistorius. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/
Ukraine is also making headlines for making wild threats against its northern neighbor, Belarus. According to RT “Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has issued an ultimatum to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, threatening him with military action if Belarus fails to dismantle the communication stations along its southern border, just days after a deadly Ukrainian drone strike on a bus carrying a children’s soccer team from the country.” https://www.rt.com/russia/
Belarus, an ally of Russia, has been careful to remain out of the conflict but does maintain air defense systems along its border with Ukraine as all nations have a right to do. Zelensky is eager to convince the European Union supporters to keep the money flowing by falsely painting Belarus as an imminent threat.
While the Western press faithfully reports all these distractions, they have avoided actual changes on the battlefield. One of Russia’s main aims is to complete the defeat of Ukraine in the DPR. The majority Russian ethnic population of Donetsk came under fierce attack after the February 2014 CIA sponsored coup in Ukraine’s capital of Kiev. Pro-Nazi militias and other anti-Russian forces drove out the moderate, elected president, Viktor Yanukovych. Peace treaties (Minsk I and Minsk II) that were negotiated in 2014 and 2015 were violated repeatedly by Ukraine and its Western masters, leading to the Special Military Operation by Russia into Ukraine and the absorption of several provinces that voted to join the Russian Federation.
Russian military forces have slowly advanced against numerous fortified cities in Donetsk taking control of one after the other in fierce fighting. Only two cities remain in Ukraine control, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Russia has now taken most of the towns leading up to these two targets. The Russians can be expected to first take the areas flanking the cities, shut down the supply routes to the Ukrainian defenders and finally take control of the cities.
These developments have been noticeably ignored by Westen media in favor of covering the dramatic, but irrelevant, drone attacks of Russia. Finally, on June 22 the New York Times had to recognize the coming Ukrainian defeat in an article titled “Thousands are fleeing Ukraine’s Donbas Strongholds as Russia Pushes Closer.”
The Times notes “While Kyiv’s fortunes have brightened in other ways in the war, Moscow’s forces are raining bombs and drones on “fortress belt” cities like Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.” The “bright ways” the Times refers to, of course, are the sporadic drone strikes inside Russia.
The two cities are Ukrainian fortresses. “Ukrainian forces have spent years fortifying and defending the strategic territory at immense cost, and it is now under an onslaught that residents fear is the beginning of the end.”
The Times could no longer ignore the Russian advances, writing “Russia still has superior numbers and firepower. And after years of grinding warfare in the region, its forces have been concentrating on the “fortress belt” cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka, part of the roughly 20 percent of Donetsk that Ukraine still controls. Russian troops have fought their way into Kostiantynivka. Druzhkivka is a wasteland. That leaves Sloviansk and Kramatorsk as Ukraine’s last real strongholds in Donetsk.”
The Times also had to admit that the roots of this conflict reach back to the 2014 US engineered coup which impelled Ukraine into an inevitable war to weaken Russia and to bring Ukraine into NATO. “The cities are protected by the fortifications that Ukraine constructed after Russia first began to stir up conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/
With continuing US and European financial and military support Ukraine will continue the proxy war against Russia with continuing losses but no chance of reversing its losses. There is still a danger that the European powers could directly enter the war against Russia, precipitating a massive and dangerous escalation. Barring that development Ukraine will eventually be forced to accept its defeat and negotiate peace.