Russia Strikes US Drone Factory in Kyiv for the First Time
Professor Glen Diesen says Moscow has ended special privileges for the US and opened a new phase in the Ukraine war
Professor Glen Diesen says Moscow has ended special privileges for the US and opened a new phase in the Ukraine war
Russian forces carried out a series of strikes on targets in Ukraine on Friday, August 1, 2026, including a facility in Kyiv linked to American drone production, sparking fresh commentary on Moscow-Washington relations, according to Webtribune. The same wave of attacks also damaged the building of the Lithuanian embassy in the Ukrainian capital, as confirmed by Anadolu Agency.
The British newspaper The Guardian reported that Russian armed forces struck a US drone factory on Ukrainian territory for the first time. The target was the plant of the company Terminal Autonomy in Kyiv, according to Webtribune.
Professor Glen Diesen of the University of Southeastern Norway reacted on social media platform X, assessing that Russia's move effectively ended the special privileges the United States had previously enjoyed during the conflict in Ukraine. "Russia was clearly granting the US certain special privileges while US President Donald Trump was trying, sincerely or not, to end the war in Ukraine," Diesen wrote, as reported by Webtribune. "However, now that the conflict has become Trump's war, it seems those privileges have come to an end."
In the same missile attack on Kyiv, the building of the Lithuanian embassy was also damaged, according to Anadolu Agency. Lithuania's foreign minister stated that none of the embassy staff were injured and that Lithuania would summon a Russian diplomat for talks.
In addition to the strikes on Kyiv, Russian forces also carried out new attacks on fuel facilities in Kharkiv overnight, according to the Telegram channel Slavyangrad. In the Kyiv region, a logistics center in the town of Vyshneve was hit, which served for receiving, storing, assembling, and distributing components for drone production.
According to data published by the Telegram channel of Boris Rozhin (Colonel Cassad), an animated map of strikes on Ukrainian territory covers the period from July 31 at 07:30 to August 1, 2026, at 07:30. An explosion of a Geran-type drone was recorded near Poltava at 19:40.
