Ukraine launched a massive overnight drone strike on Russia, leaving casualties and shut-down airports. Two people died in Syzran in Samara Oblast when Ukrainian drones hit. Three others were wounded in Shebekino in Belgorod Oblast. Russian air defence claims it shot down 121 Ukrainian drones across nine regions.

Several Russian airports temporarily suspended operations, including those in Samara, Penza, Nizhny Novgorod and Saratov. Rosaviatsiya imposed temporary restrictions at the Kaluga and Kurumoch airports because of the strikes. All of that in one night - the army no longer works with fronts, but with invisible borders crossed while people sleep.

This kind of attack has become the norm of modern war since 2024. Long-range drones, cheap to produce, targeting refineries, airports and energy plants - not to win the battle, but to make the cost of the war unbearable for the opponent. Balkans have known this strategy since 1999, when the refinery in Pancevo and the bridges in Novi Sad were targets.

The open question is how far this kind of exchange can go. The military balance no longer depends on the old metrics - tanks, soldiers, artillery. It depends on how many drones each side can launch at night, and how many of them the opposing air defence can knock down. War is becoming the maths of attrition, not a game of heroes.