'Logistics Lockdown': How Ukraine is using AI drones to target Russian supply chains

Ukraine's Defense Ministry has launched a dedicated program called "Logistics Lockdown" – a campaign aimed at disrupting Russian military supply chains deep behind the front lines using medium-range strike drones.

Ukrainian officials say the effort is already having an impact, citing a decline in Russian assault operations, fuel rationing in Crimea, and lower refinery output in Russia.

Russia's Defense Ministry has described Ukraine's long-range drone strikes as "terrorist acts" and said Moscow's own large-scale missile and drone attacks were carried out in response.

What is the Logistics Lockdown program?

The program allocates an additional UAH 5 billion – approximately $113 million – distributed directly to the highest-performing military units through the ePoints system for the procurement of modern middle-strike systems: strike drones operating at distances of tens to hundreds of kilometers from the contact line.

The program has two phases. In the first, funds go directly to brigades specializing in deep strikes, with procurement already underway. In the second, the Defense Ministry is launching centralised tenders to scale production, increase competition between manufacturers, and reduce corruption risks.

"We are launching a separate program, 'Logistics Lockdown,' to scale up attacks on the rear and systematically destroy Russian capabilities at operational depth," Fedorov said. "Our goal is to further increase pressure on Russia in the rear and deprive them of the ability to conduct active assault operations."

The stated objective is to destroy Russian logistics – warehouses, fuel depots, ammunition stores, command posts, armoured vehicles, and supply convoys – faster than they can be replenished.

The drone technology behind it

The centerpiece of the campaign is Ukraine's Hornet drone, equipped with an AI-targeting system trained on thousands of hours of footage of military targets gathered over four years of the conflict. 

Hornet strike UAVs are produced by Swift Beat LLC, a company founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmid. Ukraine officially announced cooperation with Swift Beat in July 2025. At that time, it was reported about plans to produce hundreds of thousands of drones of various types by the end of 2025 and increase this figure in 2026.

The system uses Starlink satellite connectivity to operate at distances exceeding 160 kilometres from the contact line – a configuration that is more resistant to Russian jamming than earlier drone generations, which relied on radio control signals that could be severed.

Ukrainian drone unit interviews published by Defence Express in late May described a "find-fix-finish" targeting cycle compressed to under four minutes on successful intercepts, compared to 15–25 minutes in 2024 operations.

The 412th Nemesis Brigade also disclosed the MORRIGAN, a domestically produced fixed-wing system described as having operated in Crimea and against Russian air defence and logistics assets along the Mariupol-to-Crimea corridor.

Russia's response to these systems has been the subject of open concern among Russian military commentators. The Institute for the Study of War cited Russian military bloggers who assessed that existing Russian electronic warfare systems are "ineffective against Hornet drones" and that Russia would need to "drastically scale up production of radars, develop a unified battlefield situational system, deploy more drone interceptors, and form mobile task forces" to counter the campaign. One blogger assessed that Russia would be "unlikely to adapt to the Hornet threat within the next six to 12 months."

Russia has responded operationally by restricting civilian traffic on key southern routes, forcing logistics units into night movements, attempting to disperse convoys, and rerouting vehicles through fields and dirt roads to evade drone observation.

What has been achieved so far

Assault operations. Ukraine's Defense Ministry says that as deep-strike destruction of Russian logistics has quadrupled over recent months, the number of Russian assault operations along the contact line has measurably decreased. According to figures cited by Fedorov, Russian losses rose from 67 troops per square kilometer of advance in October 2025 to 179 in April 2026. Monthly Russian casualties now exceed 35,000 killed or seriously wounded, according to Ukraine. The Institute for the Study of War assessed in a dedicated report that Ukraine's intermediate-range strike campaign has created a deep zone of interdiction behind Russian lines, complicating the movement of reinforcements and supplies to the front.

Key supply routes. The primary focus of the campaign is the R-280 highway – also known as the M-14, renamed by Russian authorities as the "Novorossiya" route –  running from Rostov-on-Don through Russian-controlled Mariupol, Berdyansk, and Melitopol into Crimea. Military analysts tracking the campaign recorded a single-day record on May 29: 483 Russian transport vehicles reported neutralized. The T-0509 road supplying Russian forces in the fight for Ukraine's Fortress Belt has also come under sustained attack, according to ISW.

Deep strikes into Luhansk. Ukraine's 3rd Assault Brigade struck the Izvaryne border checkpoint – more than 205 kilometers inside the Russian-controlled Luhansk region. "Luhansk, Starobilsk, Alchevsk, Bryanka, and Kadiivka are now under the control of the 3rd Army Corps' UAVs," said Corps Commander Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi. Russian military blogger Rybar acknowledged that "Ukrainian forces have significantly increased the number of drone strikes against vehicles transporting goods to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and Crimea."

Fuel rationing in Crimea. Fuel rationing was introduced across Crimea and Sevastopol from May 31 following Ukrainian drone strikes on the land supply corridor. Crimea's governor Sergei Aksyonov restricted sales of 95-octane fuel to public transport and voucher holders, capped 92-octane sales at 20 liters per vehicle, and prohibited the filling of portable containers. Sevastopol's governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said daily fuel quotas at stations were selling out within hours. Both officials said they expected the situation to normalize within 30 days.

The Kremlin said on June 1 that "all levels of government" were working to resolve the shortage. In late May, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the government saw "no risks" of nationwide shortages, attributing lower refinery output in some regions to "seasonal maintenance." The Energy Ministry said the domestic fuel market remained "stable and under control."

Refinery output. At least 16 Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries were recorded in May – the highest monthly total since the start of the full-scale conflict in 2022, according to Bloomberg. Eight of Russia's 10 largest refineries were hit, including the Slavneft-YANOS plant in Yaroslavl, struck three times, and Lukoil facilities in Perm and Nizhny Novgorod, struck twice each. According to analytics firm OilX, Russian crude processing averaged 4.58 million barrels per day in May – 13% below the previous year and the lowest since October 2009. In response, Russia banned petrol exports from April 1 and jet fuel exports from June 1. Wholesale petrol prices in Russia have risen 26% since the start of the year; retail prices have risen 4.3%.

Russia's stated position

Russian officials have consistently framed the campaign in terms of Ukrainian attacks on civilian infrastructure. The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued warnings about strikes it describes as targeting civilian objects. Russia's Ministry of Defense publishes daily figures on intercepted Ukrainian drones and has claimed interception rates of several hundred per day across all regions.

Russian military bloggers and commentators have been more candid about the operational challenge. The TopWar analysis outlet acknowledged that "Ukrainian forces have already partially paralyzed the logistics of southern Russia in the land corridor to Crimea" and called for a symmetric response targeting Ukrainian rear infrastructure. Russia's Defence Ministry in mid-April published the locations of 25 drone manufacturing workshops in 11 countries and warned of "unpredictable consequences."