April 2026 became one of the most successful months of the war for Ukraine’s Defense Forces in terms of strikes against Russia’s most expensive and technologically sophisticated military assets. Over the course of the month, Ukrainian forces confirmed the destruction of at least 25 surface-to-air missile systems and related components, around fifteen radar systems, seven aircraft, two helicopters, and five naval vessels.
Equally significant was the expanding geography of these strikes. Attacks on the Russian army’s high-value targets were no longer confined to the front line or the immediate combat zone. In April, Ukrainian long-range weapons increasingly reached deep into Russian territory, hitting targets not only in occupied Crimea, but also in the Belgorod, Rostov, Bryansk, Voronezh, and even Chelyabinsk regions.
These operations demonstrated more than a series of isolated successful raids. What emerged over the past month was a systematic campaign aimed at dismantling the core elements of Russia’s military-industrial and air-defense capabilities — the very systems long portrayed by Kremlin propaganda as untouchable “superweapons.”
How this became possible, and why Russia’s most prized military assets are proving increasingly vulnerable, is the focus of Ukrinform’s latest review of the enemy’s most painful losses over the past month.
