Ukraine Shifts Drone Tactics: Overwhelming Russian Air Defenses Rather Than Targeting Specific Bases

Russia claimed it shot down 376 Ukrainian drones on June 6, 2026, across 14 regions—likely the war's largest single-day interception. The scale and spread show Ukraine's new approach: instead of hitting individual military targets, it launches coordinated drone waves across multiple Russian air defense zones simultaneously to exhaust their interceptor stockpiles and increase the war's cost at home. Both sides have dropped earlier restraint on deep strikes against infrastructure far from combat zones.