Ukrainian anti-ship missiles and drones blitzed a major Russian naval base on the Black Sea coast in a “unique” nighttime operation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday (August 12, 2026).
Cutting-edge drones developed by Kyiv since Moscow's full-scale invasion over four years ago have repeatedly targeted Russian ships in the Black Sea, including warships and oil tankers.
Ukraine's air and sea drones have succeeded in limiting the movements of Russia's once-dominant Black Sea navy, Kyiv officials say, in one of the country's biggest accomplishments of the war.
But Ukrainian officials believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is bent on pressing ahead with the war, despite his bigger Army's slow and costly progress on the battlefield and U.S. diplomatic efforts to find a settlement.
Mr. Putin is planning “an additional rapid mobilization of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year,” Mr. Zelenskyy said on Tuesday (August 11) night on social media, citing Ukrainian intelligence reports.
