Ukraine steps up air war with Russia using homegrown drones, Moscow retaliates against Kyiv
Jamie McIntyre
DEEP STRIKE: While the West anxiously watches the cautious advance of Ukrainian ground forces in the south, Kyiv is demonstrating its expanding capability to hit Russia on its home turf.
Overnight yesterday, Ukraine unleashed a swarm of more than 20 homemade drones against Russia’s Pskov airfield, located more than 370 miles northwest of Moscow, near the country’s borders with Estonia and Latvia, successfully destroying at least two and possibly as many as four Russian Il-76 cargo planes, which could be seen burning on the tarmac. Two other planes appeared damaged, including a Tu-22 Backfire long-range bomber.
The strike on Pskov was the most dramatic of drone attacks launched against eight separate areas in Russia, including Moscow, where Russia claimed its air defenses shot down the drones. The airstrikes were by far the largest mounted by Ukraine since it began to use its own drones to take the war to Russian territory in early May.
“The Ukrainian drones that Russian air defenses downed over the six other oblasts were likely en route to Moscow or Pskov Oblast and likely were not part of a Ukrainian effort to strike targets in the other oblasts,” said the Institute for the Study of War. “Russian forces may have focused their air defenses on covering Moscow and somehow missed the unusually large number of Ukrainian drones that reportedly struck the Pskov airfield,” the ISW speculated.
“[Wednesday’s] attacks are a demonstration of the evolving sophistication and capability of Ukraine’s conduct of strike operations. The Ukrainians are not only conducting strikes on an expanding list of targets but doing it at longer range,” wrote retired Australian Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan on his Substack page. “Over the past few months, these new systems as well as simpler commercial drones, have been used to attack strategic targets across the breadth of Russia.”
“These airfield attacks, which target aircraft as well as airfield infrastructure such as fuel installations, have military utility,” Ryan said. “Not only does it destroy capability, the attacks force a Russian reassessment of their air defense resources. Importantly, it could force redeployment of Russian air force assets further from Ukraine, limiting their utility.”
RUSSIA STRIKES BACK: In apparent retaliation for the embarrassing strikes deep in its own territory, Russia launched a combined missile and drone attack on Kyiv, in which reportedly two people were killed and three others were injured by falling debris.
“Ukrainian officials reported that Ukrainian air defenses shot down all 28 cruise missiles and 15 drones over Kyiv, Odesa, Cherkasy, and Mykolaiv oblasts,” the ISW reported in its nightly assessment. “This Russian strike was considerably larger than other Russian strikes in recent weeks and was likely in retaliation for the Ukrainian strikes on Moscow and Pskov Oblasts earlier in the night.”
Russian military bloggers railed against the inability of Moscow to protect its vital military infrastructure. “A Kremlin-affiliated Russian milblogger claimed that the Ukrainian strike on the Peskov airfield indicates that Russian air defenses have not adapted to defend against repeated Ukrainian drone strikes, in contrast with how Russian air defenses in Crimea have adapted,” the ISW reported. “Another prominent Russian milblogger expressed concern that there will be no safe places in western Russia due to Ukraine’s growing technical capabilities.”
WHY RUSSIA IS SO ALARMED BY UKRAINE’S BIG DRONE RAID
UKRAINE MUST WIN: As doubts have risen about the prospects for a total victory by Ukraine, U.S. and U.K. diplomats are using more forceful language to signal commitment to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s stated goal of expelling Russian troops from all of Ukraine’s territory, including the Crimean peninsula, reported Washington Examiner Foreign Affairs Reporter Joel Gehrke.
The shift in tone is evident in recent private and public pronouncements, including statements yesterday from a senior State Department official, Gehrke reported. “We need to finish this job,” the official said. “It’s in our fundamental interest to see and have Ukraine maintain its territorial integrity and for Europe to maintain its stability as our largest trading partner … [and] the most important partner, in terms of our projection of our power and our influence around the world, on global issues that span much broader than Europe.”
“It’s very important that Ukraine win this war … And by ‘win,’ I mean as President Biden said, Russians leave all of Ukraine.”
The statements echo what Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said in an interview with a Jordanian TV station last week. “At the end of the day no matter which way it is through diplomatic means or military means at the end of the day Ukraine must remain free, sovereign, independent,with its territory intact.”
US AND UK MAKE CASE FOR UKRAINE RETAKING CRIMEA: ‘WE NEED TO FINISH THIS JOB’
Good Thursday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Conrad Hoyt. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE
Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!
NOTE TO READERS: Daily on Defense will not publish Monday, Sept. 4, as we observe the Labor Day federal holiday. We’ll be back in your inbox and online Tuesday, Sept. 5.
US: MOSCOW SEEKING WEAPONS, RAW MATERIAL FROM PYONGYANG: The U.S. has declassified intelligence which it says shows Russia and North Korea are “actively advancing” negotiations for Pyongyang to replenish Moscow’s depleted ammunition stocks.
“Russia is negotiating potential deals for significant quantities and multiple types of munitions from the DPRK to be used against Ukraine. These potential deals could also include the provision of raw materials that would assist Russia’s defense industrial base,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said yesterday.
“Arms negotiations between Russia and the DPRK are actively advancing, as was highlighted during Friday’s Council meeting, Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu stood beside Kim Jong Un during the DPRK’s recent military parade,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “The United States is now able to share that Shoigu’s visit was more than just a photo op. Russia used this visit to the DPRK to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia. Since then, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un have exchanged letters pledging to increase their bilateral cooperation.”
“Any arms deal between the DPRK and Russia would directly violate a number of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” said NSC spokesman John Kirby, in a briefing for reporters. “We’re continuing to monitor this situation closely, and we urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia.”
NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN NORTH KOREA AND RUSSIA FOR WEAPONS ‘ACTIVELY ADVANCING,’ NSC SAYS
STRATCOM FACES BLOWBACK AFTER IRANIAN SPEAKER HIGHLIGHTS CONFERENCE: The decision to invite a former Iranian diplomat to give the keynote address at the U.S. Strategic Command’s Deterrence Symposium earlier this month is drawing fire after critics pointed to prior comments about Tehran’s death threats against former Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his deputy, Brian Hook.
A video of the speech by Seyed Mousavian, Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University, sparked outrage when it was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
“Mousavian helped lead the murderous Iranian regime’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons so it could threaten the United States and our allies with annihilation,” the article quoted Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) as saying. “Now he’s in semi-retirement at Princeton as a full time propagandist for the IRGC. Inviting him to spread lies at a U.S. military seminar is insanity.”
The author of the story, Adam Kredo, said STRATCOM responded to his report by saying, “We were aware of Mr. Mousavian’s previous position within the Iranian government and believe that … we would have benefited from that insight into an opposing viewpoint.”
In a post on X, Richard Goldberg, a former NSC staff member on the Iran desk and senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, called the invitation to Mousavian a “catastrophic crisis of confidence in this command’s judgment.”
“Not only an Iranian regime stooge, but publicly celebrates active plots to kill US officials,” Goldberg posted. “Congress should censure and carefully review what command discretionary funds can be restricted immediately.”
WHEN IS A COUP A COUP? House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Jim Risch (R-ID), ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are accusing the Biden administration of lacking a clear Africa policy after a series of coups.
“The coup in Gabon after President Bongo’s disputed re-election is the ninth military takeover in Africa in three years. Meanwhile, the State Department has not formally declared last month’s ouster of Niger’s President Bazoum a coup, leaving our regional friends unsure how the Biden Administration will match its abundant rhetoric about democracy with corresponding action,” McCaul and Risch said in a joint statement. “The U.S. must act more decisively with our like-minded African partners to articulate and implement a clear strategy, appropriately resourced, that advances responsive democratic governance, reverses this trend of military-led coups, and challenges the predatory influence of autocratic Russia and China in Africa.”
The State Department released a statement of its own, saying the U.S. is “deeply concerned by evolving events in Gabon.”
“We remain strongly opposed to military seizures or unconstitutional transfers of power. We urge those responsible to release and ensure the safety of members of government and their families and to preserve civilian rule,” the statement said.
GABON COUP ‘DEEPLY CONCERNING’ BUT ‘TOO SOON TO CALL THIS A TREND,’ US SAYS
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: US and UK make case for Ukraine retaking Crimea: ‘We need to finish this job’
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Why Russia is so alarmed by Ukraine’s big drone raid
Washington Examiner: Negotiations between North Korea and Russia for weapons ‘actively advancing,’ NSC says
Washington Examiner: Ukraine war has been ‘major’ driver of ‘one of the most disruptive’ times for global food security
Washington Examiner: UK parliamentary report calls Taiwan an ‘independent country’
Washington Examiner: Marines order safety review following Osprey crash that killed three in Australia
Washington Examiner: Biden still quiet on Afghanistan withdrawal as August comes to a close
Washington Examiner: Gabon coup ‘deeply concerning’ but ‘too soon to call this a trend,’ US says
Washington Post: Putin in a fix as ruble plummets, prices soar
BBC: Ben Wallace: New UK defense secretary to be announced
Bloomberg: Ukraine Gets ‘Vampire’ Rockets From US to Combat Russian Drones
Defense One: Job 1 for Makers of Anti-Drone Defenses: Write Good Software
Air & Space Forces Magazine: US Not Running Out of Munitions Due to Ukraine Aid, Pentagon Acquisition Boss Says
Bloomberg: Hicks takes direct oversight of Pentagon’s UAP office; new reporting website to be launched
Stars and Stripes: Military Leaders Fly Over South China Sea, Discuss Aggressive Behavior By Beijing
Reuters: U.S. Military In Talks To Develop Port In Philippines Facing Taiwan
New York Times: The U.S. And China Are Talking Again. Where It Will Lead Is Unclear.
Air Force Times: Future Fighter Program Poses Key Test for US Air Force’s Design Method
Breaking Defense: Pentagon’s Global Train and Equip Projects Plagued by Delays, Unreliable Equipment: GAO
DefenseScoop: Space Force in Discussions to Establish a Cyber Component to US Cyber Command
AP: North Korea Launches Ballistic Missiles Toward The Sea After U.S. Flies Bombers During Drills
Reuters: US Space Force Looks to Boost Allied Tracking of North Korea Missiles
Space News: Firefly Ready for Call-Up to Launch Military ‘Responsive Space’ Mission
Defense News: Pentagon To Release Defense Industrial Strategy In December
Air & Space Forces Magazine: SDA Set to Launch 13 More Tranche 0 Satellites into Orbit on Aug. 31
Air & Space Forces Magazine: How to Build a More Diverse Air Force, According to Researchers
Air & Space Forces Magazine: After 5 Months Away For Runway Repairs, Wolf Pack F-16s Return Home to Kunsan
Washington Post: Army charges military doctor in sprawling sexual abuse case
AP: West Point time capsule that appeared to contain nothing more than silt yields centuries-old coins
The National Interest: Opinion: Ten Reasons Why the Hostage Deal with Tehran Is a Disaster
Calendar
THURSDAY | AUGUST 31
8:30 a.m. — Government Executive Media Group NextGov/Federal Computer Week “Data and Analytics Summit,” with Cameron Chehreh, vice president of sales and marketing group and general manager for the public sector at Intel; Eileen Vidrine, Air Force chief data and artificial intelligence officer; Zach Whitman, chief data officer at the General Services Administration; Oliver Wise, chief data officer of the Commerce Department https://events.nextgov.com/data-and-analytics-summit/
MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 11
9:15 a.m. 165 Waterfront St., National Harbor, Maryland — Air and Space Forces Association Air, Space & Cyber Conference, with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall; Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.; and Gen. Duke Richardson, commander of Air Force Materiel Command https://2023asc.expotracker.net/index.aspx
TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 12
8:25 a.m. 165 Waterfront St., National Harbor, Maryland — Air and Space Forces Association Air, Space & Cyber Conference, with Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations; William LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment; Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander of U.S. Strategic Command; Thomas Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command; and Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force Roger Towberman https://2023asc.expotracker.net/index.aspx
WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 13
8:15 a.m. 165 Waterfront St., National Harbor, Maryland — Air and Space Forces Association Air, Space & Cyber Conference, with Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne Bass; and Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff https://2023asc.expotracker.net/index.aspx
FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 15
11 a.m. — Center for a New American Security virtual fireside chat of CNAS report: “‘Production is Deterrence’: Investing in Precision-Guided Munitions to Meet Peer Challengers,” with William LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment; and moderator Stacie Pettyjohn, senior fellow and director of the CNAS Defense Program https://www.cnas.org/events/virtual-fireside-chat-the-honorable-dr-william-laplante
QUOTE OF THE DAY “It’s very important that Ukraine win this war … And by ‘win,’ I mean as President Biden said, ‘Russians leave all of Ukraine.’” Senior State Department official speaking to reporters Wednesday.