From: Transform Ukraine By Douglas Landro / July 2, 2025
Ukrainian Drones Hit Russian Defense Plant 1,300km Away While Brigade Commander Dies in Dnipropetrovsk Strike as Pentagon Halts Weapons Shipments and Putin-Macron Hold First Call Since 2022
Summary of the Day – July 1, 2025
The opening day of July crystallized the war’s evolving dynamics with stunning precision strikes and tragic losses defining Ukraine’s reality. Ukrainian drones reached 1,300 kilometers into Russia to devastate the Kupol defense plant in Izhevsk, while simultaneously hitting multiple strategic targets from occupied Crimea to Saratov Oblast in coordinated long-range operations. The day’s victories came at a devastating cost: Russian missiles killed Brigade Commander Serhii Zakharevych and 30 others in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, representing another loss of Ukraine’s new generation of combat-hardened officers. As Ukraine demonstrated its expanding strike capabilities, the Pentagon quietly halted weapons shipments due to stockpile concerns, while French President Emmanuel Macron broke over two years of silence to call Vladimir Putin—only to discover Moscow’s unchanged maximalist positions. The day’s events underscored a fundamental paradox: Ukraine’s tactical successes occurred against a backdrop of diminishing Western support and persistent Russian territorial claims.
A view of a destroyed market following recent shelling in occupied Donetsk, which local Russian-installed authorities described as a Ukrainian military strike, in Donetsk, Ukraine. (Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“With Surgical Precision”: Ukraine’s 1,300-Kilometer Reach Devastates Russian Defense
Ukrainian Security Service drones executed what officials described as a masterpiece of precision warfare, striking the Kupol Electromechanical Plant in Izhevsk with devastating effect. The facility, located 1,300 kilometers from Ukrainian-held territory in Russia’s Udmurt Republic, produces Tor and Osa air defense systems alongside Garpiya attack drones—critical components of Russia’s military infrastructure.
“With surgical precision, the SBU continues to carry out strikes against Russia’s military-industrial enterprises contributing to the war effort against Ukraine,” an SBU source told the Kyiv Independent. “Each such operation weakens Russia’s offensive potential, disrupts weapons production chains, and proves that no part of Russia is a safe zone for its military infrastructure.”
Voice of Ukraine 