Russia Under Siege From Within: Is Kyiv Behind the Blasts Targeting Its War Machine?

Someone is hunting Russia's war machine, one man at a time. A string of attacks on military and defence figures in recent days is forcing a blunt question, is Ukraine now running a covert war of terror inside Russia to break it from within.

The latest strike hit late Tuesday near Yekaterinburg, where Vladimir Tkachuk, head of drone maker Uraldronzavod, was seriously injured after his Mercedes exploded in the village of Bolshoy Istok, about 1,400 km east of Moscow. Investigators say an explosive device was planted under the car. His driver, reported to be his bodyguard, was killed instantly. Photos online showed the burnt out shell of the vehicle, and locals said a loud blast tore through the area before flames swallowed it whole.

Tkachuk built the Upyr drone, also called the Vampire, a cheap attack drone that resists jamming and has armed Russian forces across Ukraine. He once showed off his designs to President Vladimir Putin at a military tech event in St Petersburg in 2024. His own pro-war Telegram channel, followed by over 650,000 people, called it a straight up assassination attempt and said he survived emergency surgery in stable condition. Sources close to Tass paint a grimmer picture, calling his state critical, so the truth is still murky.

This is no isolated hit. Just days before, drone developer Andrei Cherezov was shot and wounded in Tula. Before that, a bomb ripped through Moscow's Balzi Rossi restaurant, killing five and injuring 19, with Russian media claiming the real target was a senior military commander seated inside. Three attacks, three cities, one clear thread, men tied to Russia's war effort are being picked off, one by one.

Russian commentators and state linked channels are already branding this a terror campaign, arguing that Ukraine, unable to win outright on the battlefield, is turning to fear, targeted killings and sabotage to grind Russia down instead. Others push back hard, pointing out that Moscow has a long record of pinning attacks on Kyiv without evidence, only for the real cause to turn out to be internal rivalry, corruption fallout or plain accident.

No group has claimed responsibility. No proof has been shown. But drone bosses shot, restaurants bombed, cars blown apart, all within days of each other, this is not starting to look like coincidence anymore.