Kremlin prepares for massive strike on Ukraine - ISW points to signs

The occupiers terrorize Ukrainian cities with air strikes almost every day. Analysts believe that another massive strike is ahead for Ukraine, and have pointed to potential targets.

In September 2025, the invaders launched 6,900 drones against Ukraine. At the same time, during this month they accumulated reserves of ballistic and cruise missiles in order to carry out several large-scale strikes with drones and missiles on selected days.

This is stated in the report of the Institute for the Study of War.

Analysts noted that russia does not launch missiles in series every evening, but often takes several-day breaks. Most days it probably accumulates reserves of ballistic and cruise missiles, and then launches a large number simultaneously with numerous drones to overload the Ukrainian air defense system.

Notably, in September 2025, russian forces conducted only four nighttime attacks with more than 10 missiles, and approximately once every two weeks, one attack with more than 40 missiles, starting in late August 2025.

This demonstrates russia's recent tendency to occasionally conduct multiple large-scale combined strikes in between more regular, smaller drone attacks.