UK-made drones strike military targets inside Russia for first time

Ukraine has been using British-made drones to strike military and industrial targets inside mainland Russia, marking the first confirmed use of UK-origin attack systems against Russian soil. The campaign, which has reportedly been running for six months, targeted oil refineries, military bases, and logistics hubs across Russian territory. Two unnamed British companies supplied the drones, adding yet another Western-made weapons system to Ukraine’s expanding long-range strike arsenal. Among the systems identified is the BAE Systems Nyan One Way Effector, a precision strike drone with a 2.9-meter wingspan designed to operate in contested environments. A quiet escalation, six months in the making The revelations surfaced in mid-August 2026, but the campaign itself appears to have been underway since early in the year. That timeline means UK drones were striking Russian targets for months before the public learned about it, a pattern consistent with how Western military support for Ukraine has gradually expanded since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. Ukraine’s broader drone and missile campaign against Russian infrastructure intensified throughout 2026. Large-scale strikes were r...