Military — 2026-07-27

Zelensky Approves Deep-Strike Operations Plan and Updates Priority Target List Inside Russia

BLUFKyiv's operationalized 3,000-km strike envelope forces Moscow into an unsustainable tradeoff between defending political prestige sites and shielding the industrial base sustaining the war effort.

Zelensky said a meeting with military leadership on July 26 approved continuation of Ukraine's deep-strike operations and updated the list of priority targets in Russia, based on their actual impact on Russia's ability to sustain the war 123. He said strike ranges now exceed 3,000 kilometers, with Ukrainian drones having reached targets in the Ural region and Siberia, and that Ukraine is expanding its capacity to operate at greater distances 12. Since the start of the year, Ukraine has carried out more than 1,000 long-range strike missions against oil facilities, military production sites, and logistics infrastructure 13. Zelensky said Russia's air defenses remain concentrated around Moscow, state residences, the Crimean Bridge, and St. Petersburg, and that Ukraine has presented Russia's political leadership with proposals to end the war 12. Kyiv Independent reported the update follows a week of Ukrainian strikes on logistics hubs belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer 2.

Analysis
Zelensky's expanded target list, prioritizing facilities by actual impact on Russia's war-sustaining capacity, marks a shift from symbolic strikes toward a sustained attritional campaign, forcing Moscow to choose between concentrating air defenses on a narrow set of high-value sites or spreading thin cover across an exposed rear. Confirmed ranges beyond 3,000 kilometers, more than triple the 800-kilometer benchmark flagged in May, show Kyiv has operationalized depth into the Urals and Siberia, once treated as aspirational and insulated from the war's costs. Reporting rests on a single primary source, Zelensky's own statement, with other outlets relaying rather than independently corroborating it. Pairing the update with renewed proposals to Russian leadership suggests strikes function as negotiating leverage; the messaging may instead be aimed chiefly at Western partners rather than reflecting a substantive targeting shift.

5 sources

Zelensky approves plan for deep-strike operations, updates list of priority targets - Ukrinform
Kyiv has developed new list of 'priority targets' for deep strikes in Russia, Zelensky says - Kyiv Independent
Зеленський: На нараді погодили продовження далекобійних операцій проти РФ та оновили пріоритетні цілі - Interfax-Ukraine
Зеленський повідомив про оновлення цілей ударів по РФ із реальним впливом - Ukrainska Pravda
Zelensky statement on deep-strike operations plan and updated priority target list - Volodymyr Zelensky (official Telegram channel)