Divided Loyalties: Ukrainian Drone Offensive Reshapes Life in Russian-Occupied Crimea

Across Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukraine’s summer drone campaign is taking a toll on residents, even as it deprives Russian forces of safe bases and logistics hubs for its war against its smaller yet resilient neighbor.

The aim is to isolate the strategic peninsula.

Ukrainian drones first targeted some 300 Russian air-defense assets in late June, then relentlessly struck military targets and electricity and water infrastructure across Crimea.

As Ukraine’s offensive draws the 4 1/2-year war closer to the peninsula than ever, pro-Russia residents feel growing fear and alarm, while pro-Ukraine residents enjoy – discreetly, they say – the hopeful expectation that Russian rule might one day end.

A favorite summer beach getaway for Russians that was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, the Crimean Peninsula juts into the Black Sea along the southern underbelly of Ukraine. This season, tourism numbers have plummeted to near zero.

“Almost every night, we hear the sounds of flying drones. … People panicked at first, but have since gotten used to it,” says a Crimean businesswoman who could not be further identified because of tight surveillance by Russian authorities.

There are “drastic changes for the worse,” she says, reached via an encrypted messaging app, with many businesses facing significant losses and shutting down, and “no prospects for the future.”

Cars line up at a Crimean gas station in Simferopol, Ukraine, June 12, 2026.

“We discuss with our neighbors mostly everyday problems, rumors about casualties, prices, and future prospects,” she says. “People avoid open conversations about the air raids and their causes. Few trust anyone, even those who have known each other for many years.”

The fuel and energy blockade imposed by Ukraine, she adds, is “compounded by an information blockade from the Russian authorities.”

Progress in the ongoing Crimea campaign is rare good news for Ukrainians, alongside Ukraine’s successful deep-strike drone and cruise missile attacks inside Russia, which have raised fuel prices and brought the war tangibly home to Russians for the first time.

The architect of Ukraine’s mid- and long-range drone campaign, Maj. Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, has apologized to Ukrainian residents of Crimea for disrupting their lives.

But he also notes how important Crimea is to Russia, after more than a decade of occupation. President Vladimir Putin opened the Kerch Bridge – the only direct connection to the Russian mainland – by driving across its 12-mile span to much official fanfare in 2018.

The success of Ukraine’s drone campaign, too, has negated the need for a costly ground offensive, Major Brovdi argues.

Ukrainian servicemembers prepare a Chaklun strike drone used for deep-strike operations against Russian positions on the Crimean Peninsula, at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Aug. 6, 2026.

Targeting Crimea could be instrumental in ending the war, he told The Associated Press in early August. Ukraine could strike seven times more targets in Crimea, he added, if support pledged by Western allies came faster.

In a mid-August social media post on what he called operation “Crimean Switch Off,” Major Brovdi listed 29 energy targets struck in territory occupied by Russia. Power supplies are critical to the function of most Russian air defenses.

Crimea was once the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, and a multitude of forward air and logistics hubs used to fight Ukraine. The swift turn to Ukrainian advantage, and the scale and precision of drone bombardment, have shocked Russia, analysts say.

“Even six months ago, no one could even hope for that, so they are surprised,” says Serhii Danylov, a Crimea expert and deputy director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Kyiv.

“We should never underestimate Russians; they are adaptable and a very smart enemy,” says Mr. Danylov. But he adds: “They were not prepared for this at all.”

He estimates that one-third of Crimean residents remain quietly pro-Ukraine, that slightly more than one-third are pro-Russia, and that the remainder are waiting to see which way the battle goes.

Mikhail Razvozhaev/telegram channel/AP

Firefighters in Sevastopol, Ukraine, on the Crimean Peninsula, battle a blaze after a Ukrainian drone attack, June 10, 2026.

Tight surveillance by Russian authorities prevents any form of protest; pro-Ukraine sentiment is forbidden. Yet it is difficult to hide the columns of smoke rising from Ukraine’s drone strikes, lengthy power cuts, and long gas lines.

“Pro-Ukraine people feel a secret joy – they hug each other, or make signs with their eyes, in congratulations,” says Mr. Danylov. In quiet forms of resistance, they also put together random-looking combinations of blue and yellow – the colors of the Ukrainian flag – on everyday items like shoes or handbags.

“Those who don’t support Ukraine – especially those who came [to Crimea] after the Russian invasion – are annoyed, fearful, and frustrated,” says Mr. Danylov.

Anxiety among pro-Russia residents is heightened by platitudes from occupation officials. “For the first time in all these years, they have a feeling that they have been lied to, that they are abandoned, and that creates a lot of tension,” says Mr. Danylov.

Voices from Crimea describe the official disconnect.

“It seems to me that the authorities do not understand what is happening,” says the businesswoman. “There is absolutely no visible preparation for winter. Costly urban beautification projects continue,” she says, citing an example in Saky, on the southwest coast, of a dinosaur statue moved this year to a park, at a cost of nearly $1,160,000.

“Local authorities are the ones to blame for the emergency situation,” says the businesswoman. “No preventive measures have been taken – neither to protect infrastructure nor to secure supplies [or] prepare the population.”

People line up for hot meals at a field kitchen set up by local authorities in Massandra, Ukraine, on the Crimean Peninsula, July 31, 2026.

Tourism companies have had to reimburse canceled bookings, and suppliers are refusing to deliver to Crimea, raising prices, she says. The loss of refrigeration has forced farmers and markets to discard tons of fresh fish and meat.

And residents of Crimea are feeling the impact, according to social media posts collated by the “Crimea Realities” website of Radio Free Europe.

“We haven’t had electricity for 20 days,” said one resident in a recent video. Another resident, called Anastasia, spoke with wonder when both water and electricity came on. “I just washed my hair,” she says in a video. “Honestly, this is a miracle, drying my hair in front of the fan.”

And an entrepreneur from Moscow, Alexander Sergeev, who has lived in Crimea since 2014, says in an online video: “We were completely unprepared for the current challenges.”

He cites “colossal fatigue, irritability, loss of orientation, and lack of prospects” among his friends, many of whom are well-informed about “what is really happening” in Russia, and especially Crimea, and are trying to prepare “to survive and preserve the quality of life.”

“It is startling to see just how little the [Russian] federal authorities care about the fate of Crimea and its people,” says the businesswoman.

“Everyone understands that Russia is effectively losing control over the peninsula,” she adds. “People are in a state of bewilderment.”

Oleksandr Naselenko supported reporting for this article.

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