The Russia-Ukraine war is entering a new stage – a drone war. What is happening in Ukraine, how do they live, how do they work, how do they fight… Prof. Igor Zhaloba, who is a veteran of the war in Ukraine, spoke to FAKTI.
– Mr. Zhaloba, at what stage is the war between Russia and Ukraine now? Is there a real chance of an end to hostilities or, in your opinion, does Russia still believe that it can achieve its goals by military means?
– Thank you for the question. A very interesting question. During my travels now – both in Germany, and in Bosnia, and in France, I was there in June – I constantly ask about this. And to this question that we ask ourselves, we are looking for an answer. Look, the war continues. The war continues now, at the moment. If you watch the news, you see these changes that occurred in the first half of this year. First, this successful offensive of the Russian troops, which they had in 2025, has stopped. It continues, but not at the pace that it was a year ago.
You see that the fighting continues millimeter by millimeter. And each millimeter costs very large human and material casualties. This has led to a certain weakening of the Russian pressure with manpower. There is practically no use of these mobile devices, that is, a large use of equipment, etc. These rare cases that have occurred have practically ended very badly for the Russians - with large losses in manpower and equipment. Thus, their tactics, which they have developed since the end of 2024 and then in 2025 - infiltration, continue. With small groups, in certain places they continue to attack. They are doing exactly that.
– And why did President Zelensky replace Defense Minister Fyodorov? How do you view this step?
– I will answer, but let me finish something. For Russia, these moves were preferred, because this was somehow a regime of their silence. But what is happening? In recent days, in the Aleksandrov direction in Zaporizhia, in the Dnepropetrovsk region, in Zaporizhia, we managed to liberate a significant number of our settlements. That is, for the first time, after a long break, we - as Ukrainians, managed to regain part of our territories. This is the second point.
The third point is that we grew up not so much in strikes on the immediate front lines, that is, with FPV drones at a short distance. We have grown thanks to the efforts of Defense Minister Fyodorov and are carrying out successful medium-range strikes - the so-called middle strike. You have also seen how we can now carry out long-range strikes - deep strikes.
That is, this year, practically for the first time since the Kursk operation, which was also limited to the territory of Russia, we have actually carried out strikes deep into Russia.
And you know that we are striking not only in the European part of Russia, but also behind the Urals, in Siberia, which has never happened in the history of war before - strikes reaching these deep territories. For their part, the Russians have taken a step towards further movement of the army through local assaults in places. That is, they continue with such actions on the front, but on the other hand, they use a lot of missile weapons
and have switched to the usual tactics - destruction of everything and anything.
If earlier they destroyed and continue to destroy frontline settlements and cities, now these massive missile strikes in significantly larger volumes are used throughout the territory of Ukraine. In this way, they are trying to cause panic among the population, destroy any economic viability and make life impossible for Ukrainians in the interior of the country, and not only there, but also in the border territories. This is how I would assess the situation as of today in terms of the war. And as of today, if we talk about Putin, who makes the decisions, there are no indicators by which we would say that he is ready to give up something and freeze the conflict or not continue the war. At the moment, they are constantly stating that they will not go to peace negotiations until Ukraine actually capitulates, and the war will continue. Therefore, we must proceed from the fact that the war continues. It is becoming more and more cruel on both sides. And this is the reality we have today.
– And what is the situation in Odessa? Is Russia focused on more intensive attacks on the city?
– Yes, Odessa. Until now, Russia's behavior in this area has not been so aggressive. Now it is intense. If you look at what is happening, intensive attacks on the frontline cities continue - Zaporozhye, Kharkov, Sumy, but the main mass of attacks is directed at Odessa and Kiev.
It's just that Odessa is closer and there are constant, especially recently, massive strikes there. And as for Kiev, Russia is gaining the necessary amount of missiles and bombs, and then they make these ballistic, combined strikes on Kiev. On the other hand, even when there are no massive attacks, the ballistic threat to Kiev is daily. This is because they have deployed divisions in the border regions - Kursk, Bryansk and others. The missiles from there fly to Kiev in seconds. You understand that this is very fast.
- And let's get back to the issue of replacing the Minister of Defense Fyodorov. Zelensky replaced him, there were protests, and an explanation...
- This is the biggest mystery to me. I regret this decision. In these five years since the start of the war, I have not been in such a bad mood as when Fyodorov was removed. We have a democratic society in Ukraine. The fact that President Zelensky and the government are in Kiev is a credit to the citizens of Ukraine - to those who volunteer, who donate money, who fight, who bear all the burdens and hardships of war. And each of us, it doesn't matter whether he is a professor, a leader, a student, a soldier, an officer or a general, wants to be respected for what he does. And respect is manifested in telling him why this is being done, why this or that step is being taken. There is no communication. There is no communication from the president who would say: “I am doing this, I have done this, I have done that because… “ There should not be much talk, but we should try to communicate.
Pay attention - no one said that the minister was ineffective. Everyone said that he was the most effective defense minister in the history of Ukraine. The question is: why was he removed? There is no answer. What I see, but it is also difficult for me to say today, is that there was no public part in which there was an answer and explanation.
- How do you assess the relations between President Zelensky and European leaders? Is there unity in Europe around Ukraine, or are serious differences already emerging about how the war should end?
- In the public part, we have support. And President Zelensky's authority in the international arena remains. This is a fact. We understand that a great merit of President Zelensky is that today we have these countries, these governments that support Ukraine. And recently, Europe's participation in supporting Ukraine has significantly increased. Because Europe understands the importance of Ukraine, and Ukraine understands the importance of Europe. Maybe in some tete-a-tete negotiations, President Zelensky explains to the leaders of other countries why he is doing this and that. I don't know that. But as of today, the support is maintained. Because other countries see the successes of Ukraine, which it achieved in this war.
I will give you an example. I read data for January of this year regarding our armaments – what our army needs in terms of armaments and equipment, Ukrainian defense production provides up to 80%. That is, we can say that in four years we have increased our own production many times. You also see these strikes of Ukrainian missiles at a distance of 1000 km on factories in the Russian Federation. These are our missiles. Minister Fyodorov said on the day of his resignation that a test of a Ukrainian ballistic missile was conducted in partnership with the Ministry of Defense.
- But President Zelensky also said recently that within a few months Ukraine will have its own ballistic missile?
- Yes, this is completely real. Because it is in Ukraine that factories that produced ballistic missiles for the USSR are located. Of course, in our country, one way or another, engineering potential, scientific personnel remained, and in any case, Ukraine during the time of Kuchma continued to develop ballistic missiles - the famous "Thunder" system, etc., which were successful. So I fully assume that this could be real.
On the other hand, the representative of Fire Point Shtilman said that he received drawings from Soviet times - of these or other missiles, which they can use in their work now, modernizing and adapting them to modern needs. The point is that we cannot have everything as parts in Ukraine. We want and are looking for partners, but we are trying to make production in our country. However, you must understand that the Russians are striking at these enterprises.
Under these circumstances, we produce missiles - both "Long Neptune" and Fire Point F5, F7. I don't know what the status of FP-9 is. What Fedorov said, that we may have our own ballistic missile. I assume that this may be "Sapsan". That is, everything that President Zelensky says is absolutely real. Also, dear colleague, you see that what was said to be unrealistic for Ukraine to do in these four years, we have done everything realistically. Now we produce millions of drones. Former commander Sirsky in February, in an interview with the French publication "Le Monde", said that we use 6-8 thousand FPV drones per day. That is, these drones that are used directly on the line of combat contact are ours - Ukrainian. We are talking about this zone of 20-30 km, which is the hot line of the front. And 99% of these FPV drones that we use, we produce ourselves. We already have long-range drones - also such as “Lyuty“, Fire Point, which fly 500-600 kilometers, up to 2000 km. This is also Ukrainian production. We have Middle Strike drones - a significant part of them are also our drones. Now we use American “Hornets“, etc. But I am talking about the fact that more than 90% of all this Ukraine produces itself. And the fact that we practically created everything from scratch during the war. For us now there is nothing unreal and nothing impossible.
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Prof. Igor Zhaloba graduated from the Faculty of History of Chernivtsi State University. He defended his candidate's thesis in historical sciences at Uzhhorod State University (1991), doctoral thesis in historical sciences at Chernivtsi National University “Yuriy Fedkovich“ (2005).
He taught at Chernivtsi National University “Yuriy Fedkovich“, Kyiv International University, National Aviation University, Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kyiv University “Boris Grinchenko“ (1990-2021), visiting professor at the European Humanities University (2007-2014). Since 2021 he has been a senior research fellow at the Institute of History of Ukraine under the National Academy of Sciences. Prof. Zhaloba is a member of the board of the International Association for the Study of the History of Railways, Vice-Chairman of the Austrian-Ukrainian Commission of Historians, Chairman of the Pan-European Union of Ukraine (PanEurope Ukraine), Member of the Presidium of the International Pan-European Movement, Vice-Chairman of the Scientific Society for the History of Diplomacy and International Relations, Member of the German-Ukrainian Society “For Our and Your Freedom”.
His scientific interests are in the field of the history of communications and trade routes, and the history of diplomacy. Prof. Zhaloba is a veteran of the war in Ukraine.