Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov says his country's forces aim to isolate the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula through drone strikes targeting Russian supply lines.
"It looks as if Crimea will soon turn into an island," Fedorov said in an interview posted on Wednesday by the PRESSING YouTube channel.
The attacks on logistics routes had opened a "window of opportunity" for Ukraine, he said, adding: "For the Russians, a hell is beginning that will be difficult for them to overcome."
Disruptions to Russian logistics are already having a direct effect on the number of Russian attacks along the front line, he said.
In a sarcastic reference to Crimea's popularity as a holiday destination for Russian tourists, Fedorov said the peninsula would be visited this year mainly by "our drones".
Fedorov, who has served as defence minister since January, said his ministry had purchased more drones in the first four months of this year than during the whole of last year.
Ukraine has been fighting Russia's full-scale invasion for more than four years with the support of allies.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and now claims additional Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine's military said on Wednesday that Russian allegations of a Ukrainian drone strike on a bus carrying a children's football team in Russia's Bryansk region were false.
"We emphasise that during the specified period, the Defence Forces of Ukraine did not employ unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in Bryansk Oblast," Ukrainian military's General Staff said in a statement on Telegram.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he has had good talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in France.
Zelenskiy and his European allies came to this week's G7 summit in the French lakeside resort of Evian-les-Bains hoping to impress upon Trump that Ukraine's battlefield fortunes had improved thanks to its drone incursions deep into Russia.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting, Trump did not want to say if he thought Putin was more responsible for the conflict in Ukraine.
"Well, I don't want to comment on that, because I'm trying to get it settled, and that doesn't make it easy."
Trump said Ukraine's wish to build US missiles in Europe would be considered.
“They would like to be able to do that. We'll take a look at it,” he said.
with Reuters
