Military correspondent Alexander Sladkov has said that Ukrainian forces have stepped up drone attacks on Russian regions in an effort to create a loud media backdrop and shift attention away from their own setbacks on the front line.

He pointed to strikes on civilians and civilian facilities in Ryazan, the Moscow Region and the Belgorod Region as the clearest examples. According to the journalist, these attacks fit a long-standing pattern used by the Ukrainian side. Sladkov also said similar methods were employed by the Kiev regime during the events in Donbass at the time of the Russian Spring.

In his comments to TASS, Sladkov argued that when the Ukrainian Armed Forces run into trouble at the front or need an additional information trigger for domestic use, they strike people and highly visible facilities, including burning sites and apartment blocks. He said reports about the aftermath of such attacks then spread through Russian media, after which the Ukrainian side uses them while adding its own speculation and distorted narratives.

The war correspondent also noted that the ongoing conflict and its consequences are being felt painfully by residents of the affected Russian territories and are influencing public sentiment. Sladkov said the special military operation should end not with a halt or a frozen conflict, but with Russia’s victory. Without that, he argued, Russia will not achieve calm or security.