TO A SLAVIC ear, 40 days is no accidental(偶然的) deadline. In Russia as in Ukraine, the 40th day after death is when the soul departs. So when Volodymyr Zelensky took to social media on June 25th to announce a new drone surge to “compel” Russia to negotiate for peace, he seemed to be telling Vladimir Putin he was already finished.(泽连斯基在社交媒体宣布无人机攻势，暗示普京已完蛋。) With blunt messages like these, the Ukrainian president has lately been beating Mr Putin in the war of words(口水战).
在斯拉夫人听来，40天绝非偶然的期限。在俄罗斯和乌克兰，人死后第40天是灵魂离开的日子。因此，当弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基于6月25日在社交媒体上宣布发动新一轮无人机攻势以“迫使”俄罗斯谈判和平时，他仿佛在告诉弗拉基米尔·普京：你已经完了。通过这样直白的讯息，乌克兰总统最近在口水战中压倒了普京。
The military balance is less clear-cut(清晰的、明确的) than the rhetoric. But Mr Zelensky’s threats are not idle(空闲的；无效的). Ukraine is bombing refineries in Russia, forcing petrol rationing in over a dozen regions. Strikes on roads, bridges, railways and ferries into Crimea are starving(使饥饿；剥夺) the Russian-annexed peninsula, home to a massive military grouping, of the means to function. Ukraine’s mid-range drone operation has become the war’s defining trend(决定性趋势) this summer.
军事平衡并不像言辞那样清晰。但泽连斯基的威胁并非空话。乌克兰正在轰炸俄罗斯的炼油厂，迫使十几个地区实行汽油配给。对通往克里米亚的道路、桥梁、铁路和渡轮的打击，正在切断这个被俄罗斯吞并的半岛——那里驻扎着庞大的军事集群——的运作能力。乌克兰的中程无人机行动已成为今年夏天战争的决定性趋势。
Plans for a campaign(战役；运动) attacking Russian logistics between 20km and 200km behind the front line have been in development since early 2025. But it came into being(形成；产生) only in the second half of May, once Ukraine developed the units, doctrine(信条；军事学说), and types and numbers of drones required. Elon Musk’s agreement to end Russian forces’ Starlink satellite access opened new opportunities. “The moment we realised we had a chance was when we saw just how many air-defence systems we were destroying,” says Major Yevhen Karas, commander of the 413rd unmanned systems regiment.(卡拉斯少校说，看到摧毁大量防空系统时才意识到有机会。) Major Karas, who played a key role in planning the operation, describes a recent mission above Crimea when his drones flew for over two hours without being intercepted(拦截；截获).
攻击前线后方20至200公里俄罗斯后勤线的战役计划自2025年初就在制定中。但直到5月下旬，乌克兰才发展出所需的部队、战术以及无人机的型号和数量，该计划才得以实施。埃隆·马斯克同意终止俄罗斯军队的星链卫星接入，开辟了新机会。“我们意识到有机会的那一刻，是看到我们摧毁了多少防空系统，”第413无人系统团指挥官叶夫亨·卡拉斯少校说。卡拉斯少校在计划该行动中发挥了关键作用，他描述了最近一次在克里米亚上空的行动，他的无人机飞行了两个多小时未被拦截。
