Wars fought for territory eventually find a second front in economics, and Russia's campaign against Ukraine through the summer of 2026 has focused heavily on that second front. From late July through late August, Russia struck Ukrainian ports, steelworks, logistics centres, and energy infrastructure in repeated large-scale attacks that killed dozens of civilians, disrupted supply chains, and pushed companies away from the Odesa region. Ukraine responded with drone strikes on Russian oil terminals, refineries, and e-commerce warehouses.
The most recent major attack came on 27 August, when Russia launched a strike package that included an unspecified number of ballistic missiles and 258 drones, according to Ukraine's military. CBC News reported that Russia's defence ministry claimed the strikes hit steelworks in Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia, an oil refinery in the Poltava region, logistics centres around Kyiv, and three ports in the Odesa region. Trains were delayed across several regions, leaving passengers stranded for extended periods.
Seven days earlier, on 20 August, a combined strike involving ballistic and quasi-ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shahed-type attack drones, and decoy drones killed at least 12 people and injured at least 40 in Kyiv city alone. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that the attack also damaged a children's hospital, a school, residential buildings, and fuel infrastructure. ISW assessed that Ukraine intercepts approximately 88.6 percent of Russian cruise missiles, a figure broadly consistent with President Volodymyr Zelensky's stated rate of 93 percent. Ballistic and quasi-ballistic missiles remain far harder to counter.
That asymmetry shapes how Russia constructs its strikes. ISW assesses that Russia is deliberately stockpiling cruise and ballistic missiles over several days to assemble periodic large, combined packages capable of overwhelming Ukrainian air defences and causing significant civilian casualties. ISW also noted that Russia is setting conditions to augment these packages with North Korean missiles, including upgraded KN-30 ballistic missiles, though whether that integration has yet occurred remains unconfirmed.
The sequence of strikes across July and August illustrates the campaign's pace and breadth. On 9 August, Zelensky said Russia had struck Odesa's seaport, calling it an attack on global food security. Reuters reported that Russia's defence ministry said it hit fuel storage in the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk. Three people were killed and 37 wounded that same day in a strike on a Kharkiv apartment block.
On 5 August, Russia struck seven logistics centres in Kyiv and the surrounding region, including the Nova Poshta innovation terminal and sorting complexes. Reuters reported that Ukrainian officials said at least 14 people were killed. Russia also claimed to have hit three cargo ships south of Odesa. Six days later, on 11 August, Russia struck the Nova Poshta sorting complex in Kyiv again and the Zaporizhstal metallurgical plant in Zaporizhzhia. Reuters reported six killed and 20 injured in Zaporizhzhia. Russia described its targets as military-related; independent verification of that characterisation has not been possible.
On 14 August, Russia struck the railway station at Izmail and two tugboats off Mykolaiv. Al Jazeera reported that Ukrainian drones hit the Ust-Luga Baltic Sea oil export port in Russia's Leningrad region the same day, triggering a fire that was subsequently brought under control. On 17 August, Russia struck port infrastructure in Izmail again, with Russia's defence ministry claiming it hit a berthing terminal used for military cargo, hangars housing Western military equipment, and naval drone depots. Reuters reported that a civilian vessel registered in Togo was damaged and four people were injured in a separate strike on Odesa.
Odesa, Izmail, Chornomorsk, and Mykolaiv together form the primary arteries for Ukraine's agricultural exports, including grain and vegetable oils. Russia has targeted these ports since its full-scale invasion in 2022. The sustained pressure through this period is already altering commercial behaviour. Following the 24 July strikes on all three ports, Reuters reported that Geneva-based vegetable oil producer Allseeds announced it was halting operations in the Odesa region, the third company to do so. The cumulative economic cost of the damage has not been independently quantified.
Ukraine's retaliatory campaign has targeted the Russian economic infrastructure that sustains the war effort. Ukrainian drones have struck refineries, the Ust-Luga oil export port, and, since 18 July, at least 20 warehouses belonging to Wildberries, a major Russian e-commerce retailer. By mid-August, Wildberries facilities had been hit more than 20 times over roughly one month, according to Al Jazeera.
The logic on both sides is similar: strike what the other side values, whether grain terminals or delivery warehouses, fuel depots or sorting centres. ISW and Ukrainian officials characterise the civilian toll from Russian strikes as deliberate strategy. Russia publicly denies targeting civilians. The casualties accumulated across this period, dozens killed and hundreds wounded across multiple strikes, represent the ongoing price of a campaign in which economic targets and civilian harm have become inseparable.
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