Vasiko Khorava
Master’s Candidate for the Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at the University of Glasgow
Abstract
The paper seeks to analyze the patterns and the operational logic of Russia’s air strike campaign against Ukraine, in particular, the integration of drones and long-range precision weapons into the combined air strike packages. It is argued that the campaign is part of the wider attritional strategy aimed at exhausting the resources of Ukraine and exploiting the systemic limits of its defensive systems. Based on the collected data between November 2024 and November 2025, the study identifies the patterns of the conducted air strikes and the extent of effectiveness of Ukrainian air defense systems. The contextual framework is defined by the research of the Russian military thought on the concepts of “Modern War”/”Contactless Warfare”. Alongside the empirical findings, the study aims to contribute to the growing literature on remote warfare. Keywords: Ukraine, Contactless Warfare, Air Strikes, Ballistic Missiles & Attack Drones