KYIV — For much of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Moscow was able to pound Ukrainian cities and its energy grid and suffered very little retaliation.

That’s changing.

Thanks to a successful effort to develop its own long-range drones and missiles and then to dramatically ramp up production, Ukraine is now able to hit Russia almost daily. It can now methodically target not only oil refineries but also power plants and electricity substations, sparking a growing energy crisis inside Russia.

“After all, we told them they must understand that if they want to impose blackouts on us, we will do the same. There are no secrets here,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a meeting with several journalists, including POLITICO, in Kyiv last week.

The goal is to develop such a muscular non-nuclear strike capability that Russia will stop its own attacks on Ukraine. That hasn’t happened yet, but Ukraine can retaliate to Russian attacks in a way it hadn’t been able to do during the first three years of the war.

On Friday, the Kremlin launched more than 450 drones and 30 missiles on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, causing partial blackouts. Last week alone, Russia launched more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles, and around 1,360 glide bombs against Ukraine, most of which were heading for energy infrastructure targets.

But Ukraine is now repaying in the same coin. In addition to bombing oil refineries, Kyiv hit a civilian power plant in Russia’s Belgorod city near the border with Ukraine earlier this month, causing blackouts.

Zelenskyy said it’s part of Kyiv’s deterrence strategy.

“The enemy must bear the cost of this war. But we do not kill civilians,” Zelenskyy said.

In the first years of the war, Ukraine did target military and energy infrastructure inside Russia, but these tended to be pinprick attacks that quickly petered out, allowing Russia to rebuild and Russian President Vladimir Putin to shield civilians from the impact of the war he had unleashed.

But Ukraine’s growing long-range arsenal is allowing for a much more sustained campaign.

So far this year, Ukraine has hit 21 of Russia’s 38 large refineries, BBC reported, knocking out about 38 percent of the country’s crude refining capacity. Zelenskyy said the attacks have caused Russia to lose up to a fifth of its gasoline supply and forced it to start importing from Belarus.

The attacks are triggering domestic fuel shortages, affecting military transport and leaving the Kremlin’s most important strategic industry teetering on the brink

Putin addressed Ukraine’s energy strikes during a recent defense ministry meeting.

“In an attempt to show its Western sponsors at least some semblance of success, the Kyiv regime is trying to target civilian facilities deep inside our territory. This will not help it,” Putin said.

Tightening ties with Trump

Relations between Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump have been fraught. They have included incidents such as the Ukrainian president being attacked in the White House, the U.S. temporarily halting arms deliveries and intelligence sharing, and the current much warmer ties that may be linked to Putin continuing the war rather than obeying Trump’s demand to start peace talks.

In August, Trump slammed his predecessor Joe Biden for not allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia.

 “It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader’s country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump now says he is thinking through Ukraine’s request for Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles.

“Frankly, I give Ukraine credit for doing so well. They are very good fighters. I think President Putin would look great if he got this settled. It’s not gonna be good for him if he doesn’t,” Trump told reporters on Sunday, claiming that before deciding on Tomahawks, he might speak to Putin first, as sending the missiles would be “a step up in war”.

Zelenskyy and Trump discussed Tomahawk deliveries to Ukraine during two phone calls in the past two days, an unusually frequent tempo.

“We see and hear that Russia is afraid that the Americans may give us Tomahawks. This is a signal that this kind of pressure can work for peace,” Zelenskyy said on Sunday. Kyiv needs another powerful deterrent that would “sober Russia up,” he added.

Local production

Ukraine is not waiting for Washington. It has started producing more and deadlier drones and missiles, a key reason why this year’s deep strike campaign is more sustained and successful, Zelenskyy said.  Another plus is more active cooperation with U.S. intelligence, although the president refused to elaborate on that.

“Well, intelligence agencies are cooperating very actively. But for us it is more important they help to understand Russian intentions, help with air defense,” a Ukrainian official told POLITICO on condition of anonymity. “But our weapons have become better and that also is helpful.”

The Financial Times reported over the weekend that the U.S. has been providing targeting information to Ukraine to hit Russian energy infrastructure.

“The Palianytsia drone-missile has already begun hitting Russia’s ammo depots in dozens of cases,” Zelenskyy claimed. Another drone-missile called Ruta struck a maritime platform at a distance of 250 kilometers in the Black Sea, Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy said that targets like Russia’s Baltic ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk “are now within reach.” On Saturday, Ukrainian drones hit Russia’s Bashneft oil refinery in Ufa near the Ural Mountains, 1,400 kilometers from Ukraine.

Ukraine’s new 3,000-kilometer Flamingo cruise missile, which POLITICO first reported about in August, has started hitting Russia too, as has the shorter-range Neptune missile.

“I won’t give numbers — we have used our Neptune and Flamingo missiles in pairs. We are not talking about en masse use of this pair. We are only saying that it has been used, and there are initial signs of such success with this particular weapon,” Zelenskyy said.

The goal is to make Putin and the Russians feel the impact of the war and to force the Kremlin to rethink.

“More pressure on Russia is needed. Pressure will work — when they lose more from war than they would in any other scenario. Our long-range strikes, strong sanctions, holding the battlefield, defending ourselves — but also, undoubtedly, supporting peaceful initiatives, because that’s the right thing to do — this will work,” Zelenskyy said.

This article has been updated.