According to Oleksandr Kovalenko, a Ukrainian political and military observer and the author of the analysis, this strike was not only about inflicting physical destruction — it was a deliberate psychological operation aimed at breaking the will of Ukrainian society.“Russia’s goal is to scale up terror with 'kamikaze' drones,” Kovalenko says. “This has become an integral part of the Kremlin’s military strategy.”During this massive attack, Russia used 539 drones, including Shahed-136/Geran-2 models and Gerbera/Parody decoys, in addition to 11 missiles. Among them were a Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missile, six 9M723/KN-23 ballistic missiles, and four Iskander-K cruise missiles. The primary target was the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.Kovalenko notes the timing of the assault is telling: the strike came shortly after a conversation between the U.S. and Russian leaders, in which Donald Trump reportedly tried to elicit some constructive response from Vladimir Putin regarding peace negotiations. What followed was not diplomacy, but what Kovalenko describes as a “spectacular bloodbath.”“Trump not only failed to hear anything constructive,” he writes, “but also received a real slap in the face from Putin.”While the scale of the attack was unprecedented, it did not come as a complete surprise. Since early June, Kovalenko explains, there has been a clear trend of intensifying Russian missile and drone strikes. Intelligence data from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense had previously warned of Russia's growing drone production capacity, with up to 90 Shahed-136 'kamikaze' drones being manufactured monthly at sites in Alabuga and Izhevsk. A similar number of decoy drones are also being assembled.“Within a month, the Russian occupying forces’ strike potential can range from 5,000 to 5,500 combined-type drones,” Kovalenko notes. “To execute such massive raids, they accumulate their arsenal over several days, usually 3 to 4, and then strike in waves on one or two major cities.”Even when the threat is anticipated, limited countermeasures and insufficient air defense systems often make it impossible to fully neutralize these raids. Kovalenko emphasizes that this terror campaign is evolving — including the emergence of new Shahed variants, some marked with Iranian-origin identification codes, such as "MS", further indicating continued drone deliveries from Iran to Russia.The observer warns that Russia is unlikely to reduce the intensity of its aerial terror campaign, especially given its lack of success on the battlefield. Instead, the Kremlin is shifting toward psychological warfare, attempting to wear down Ukrainian resistance by turning “every night into an endless nightmare for Ukrainians, with casualties and burning high-rise buildings.”To counter this, Kovalenko outlines two main strategies:Massively increase air defense coverage across Ukraine, though he points out that “this remains dependent on slow and often bureaucratic Western supply systems.”Target the production facilities themselves — such as the military plant in Izhevsk, which Ukraine recently struck with drones.“But a single attack is not enough,” he cautions. “It would require a series of raids comparable in intensity to a carpet bombing campaign — and that takes time.”Kovalenko believes that Putin has no intention of pursuing genuine peace negotiations, and that July could bring even more intense raids, possibly surpassing the record set on July 4. He concludes that the current Western approach — particularly from the United States — is too slow and indecisive, which only emboldens the Kremlin.“The amorphous position of the U.S. president, with no real pressure on Russia, only encourages Putin to continue his active terror,” he adds.Unless drone production hubs are systematically destroyed, Kovalenko warns that Ukraine should brace for more nights of terror, with attacks designed to break resistance not on the battlefield — but in the homes of civilians.