How war has literally come to Putin’s doorstep as Ukraine’s Black Sea blitz puts tyrant’s personal palaces in crosshairs

UKRAINE has brought war to Vladimir Putin’s doorstep, dragging the tyrant’s personal palaces into the crosshairs in an explosive show of strength. Kyiv’s Black Sea blitz has left smoke billowing into the sky over Putin’s secret hideouts in recent months while a fatal bombing in Moscow last weekend struck just one mile from the Kremlin. A downed Ukrainian drone smashes into a beach near the Black Sea Credit: East2West Dramatic footage showed beachgoers fleeing following the blast Credit: East2West The attacks are a “deliberate effort” by Ukraine to expose the horrors of war to the Russian people and their bloodthirsty leader, experts say. Seven people were reportedly killed and 40 were injured when a Ukrainian UAV struck the shores of Arkhipo-Osipovka, near Putin’s secret Gelendzhik lair on Sunday. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Dramatic footage showed the drone hurtling towards tourists on the popular beach after being damaged by Putin’s defence gunners. It is unclear what the drone was targeting – but Putin’s high-security palace is located just 27km along the coastline. The explosion unfolded just 17 miles from Putin’s £1billion Gelendzhik palace Credit: East2West “Targeting a place that Putin is known to go to is an obvious tactic for for the Ukrainians,” Simon Diggins, former Brit Army officer and military analyst, told The Sun. The Kremlin leader is believed to be holed up in the £1billion clifftop mega-mansion, terrified of a Ukrainian drone strike or a coup from his own war- weary inner circle, reports say. It comes just months after Ukraine blasted a Russian “shadow fleet” tanker in full view of the hideout – which is famously kitted out with high-tech underground bunkers. Diggins said: “Until this year the war has been something going on at a distance. Most read in The Sun “Ukrainians have suffered significant numbers of shortages throughout the country. “But the Russian people have been very largely kept immune to it.” The strikes are part of a broad operation by Ukraine to “bring home to the Russian people, what’s going on in their name”, Diggins said. After “taking control of the Black Sea” and blitzing military sites, Kyiv has turned its crosshairs to locations of “iconic or psychological significance”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces have crippled Russian trade with relentless strikes Smoke pours from a suspected shadow fleet tanker hit off Gelendzhik in May Credit: East2West Since mid-July, Ukraine has struck dozens of sites belonging to Wildberries – the country’s biggest e-commerce platform dubbed Russia’s Amazon. This followed a genius campaign of targeting Russian oil hubs and transport links, to paralyse Putin’s regime and spark fuel shortages. Ukraine’s strikes deep inside Russia are part of a wider effort to push Moscow to the negotiation table and end the fighting. And on Sunday night Volodymyr Zelensky‘s forces hit their invader with what is believed to be its most intense bombing campaign of the war so far. Ukrainian drone strikes hit a Wildberries hub as Kyiv brings the war to Putin’s doorstep Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has been backed into a corner by the strain of his weakening war machine Credit: AP In Belgorod, just 30 kilometres from Russia’s border with Ukraine, a drone factory was targeted. Elsewhere, two major oil refineries, Saratov and Ufa, and a Wildberries base at Novosemeykino in Samara region were also hit. Additionally over Monday night, Ukraine struck a Wildberries hub in Chekhov, Moscow Oblast, just 40 miles south of the Kremlin. At least five people died and six others were injured, local authorities said. It also comes after a suicide bomber set off a homemade explosive device at an elite Moscow restaurant over the weekend. The deadly blast ripped through the high-end Italian restaurant Balzi Rossi, killing five just 1.5 miles from the Kremlin. Colonel-General Alexander Chayko was celebrating his birthday with high-ranking military officers, politicians and top bureaucrats when the homemade explosive detonated. Five people were killed and six were left in critical condition. Five people died after a bombing at an elite Moscow restaurant Credit: AP The bomber is believed to have targeted the 55th birthday party of Col-Gen Alexander Chayko Credit: East2West Ukraine’s wide-ranging airstrikes have suffocated Russian trade and fuel supply, with oil refining production slashed by 150,000 barrels per day in the last month. In July, Moscow’s oil refining fell to 3.6 million barrels per day – the lowest rate since 2002, according to Bloomberg. International security expert, Natia Seskuria, said: “Moscow has been targeted more often so far in 2026 than throughout all of 2025. “By using domestic drone production to sustain deep strikes, Kyiv can hit targets far inside Russia, compel the Kremlin to spend more on air defense and emergency response, and make the war feel less distant to Russian society. “These strikes are a deliberate effort to raise the economic and political cost of the war.” If Kyiv maintains pressure, Ukraine will “inflict significant economic and reputational damage to Russia”. “This is directly undermining Putin’s domestic narrative that he is in control of the situation and winning the war against Ukraine”, Natia said. Meanwhile, geopolitical analyst Jason Jay Smart told The Sun: “Ukraine’s attacks are fundamentally changing the way that Russia operates as a state. “This is changing how they can calculate how much money they’re going to have in their budget. “That means how they can finance a war, how they will have logistics to continue this war. “But also it’s bringing the war so common citizens see that though they are not being targeted, they see their government is not able to win this war. “That this war is a total loss, and the longer it continues, the more they’ll suffer.” The strain on Putin’s weakening war machine has backed the dictator into a corner. Kremlin Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the country is enduring a “very difficult period”, and Putin recently made the rare admission that the country is “struggling” with an energy crisis. Dwindling manpower has seen Moscow deploy 30,000 North Korean troops and parliament allow even the most hardened criminals to be drafted. Russia has suffered 1.4 million casualties since invading Ukraine in 2022, including an estimated 500,000 deaths. Eastern European security expert Dr Richard Arnold previously told The Sun: “Russia is facing a manpower problem, simply because it hasn’t got enough people to power its industries and fight the war in Ukraine.” A report last month showed that the average life expectancy for Russian troops on the frontline was just 20 minutes. Ukraine’s 40-day operation to end the war with a series of targeted strikes was aimed at pushing Putin to peace. It may not have ended the war, but the attacks brought the reality of war to Putin’s doorstep – and in front of millions of Russian civilians who have so far been shielded from the invasion’s consequences.