OPEN LETTER: To Putin — your Dubna and Vladimir satellite centers are down, and this is just the start

Introduction: A letter that begins in Dubna, Moscow region

June 22, 2026: Ukraine knocks at your door

Mr. Vladimir Putin, on June 22, 2026, the Ukrainian armed forces struck the Dubna satellite communications complex in the Moscow region. The 32-meter MARK-IV antenna was hit. The technical building was damaged. The central control equipment was knocked offline. It was the first direct strike on a space center in the Moscow region since the war you launched in February 2022.

Hours later, a second space center in the Vladimir region was also struck. According to Defense Express, this reflects a targeted and methodical approach — not an accident, not a lucky shot, but a deliberate strategy aimed at cutting your army off from its geostationary Express satellites, which provide military internet to your troops. This letter is addressed to you because you seem not to have understood the message. Allow me to explain it.

You attacked Ukraine from the sky. Ukraine answers from the sky

From the first day of your invasion, you used space and satellite communications as a military advantage. Your forces coordinate their operations through Express and Meridian satellites. Your propaganda flows through communications infrastructure you believed untouchable. Your space communications network — the "Space Communications" company you fund — served as the backbone of your war against Ukraine.

On June 22, 2026, Ukraine answered with precision. Not a blind strike on a city. Not an indiscriminate attack. A surgical strike on the infrastructure that allows your army to see, communicate, and coordinate from geostationary orbit. That is the definition of modern warfare. And you introduced it into this conflict yourself.

Mr. Putin, your military communications are vulnerable

The 32-meter MARK-IV antenna: what its destruction means

Let me explain the significance of what Ukraine destroyed in Dubna. The 32-meter MARK-IV antenna is not civilian telecommunications equipment — it is part of the control network for Russian military and dual-use satellites. It maintains links with your geostationary Express satellites, which provide military internet to your forces in Ukraine, remote areas of Russia, and your forward operating bases.

Its neutralization creates a gap in your command architecture. Not a permanent gap — you have redundancies — but a real one, degrading your ability to communicate in real time with your most isolated units. Multiplying these gaps is precisely the Ukrainian strategy. The ISW documented on June 22, 2026 that the same night, Ukraine also struck a missile component factory in Voronezh producing Iskanders and Kh-101s. You are safe nowhere.

Vladimir, Voronezh, Dubna: the geography of your vulnerability

Voronezh, Vladimir, Dubna — these are regions you considered production and communications sanctuaries, far from the front, beyond the reach of Ukrainian drones. You were wrong. On June 24–25, 2026, according to RBC-Ukraine, Ukraine conducted drone strikes reaching 19 Russian regions in a single night. Your air defense announced it had destroyed 269 drones — but some got through. And some reached their targets.

This geographic expansion of Ukrainian strikes is not adventurism — it is a coherent doctrine: denying your army its means of production, communication, and coordination. Every component factory struck means fewer missiles to bomb Kyiv. Every satellite antenna neutralized means less coordination for your offensives. Ukraine may not be winning the ground war, but it is systematically degrading your capacity to continue it.

Mr. Putin, this war has slipped away from you

You thought this would be a 72-hour "special operation"

I remember your statements from February 24, 2022. A "special military operation" — not a war. Limited in scope. Destined for a swift Ukrainian capitulation. You estimated that Zelensky would flee Kyiv, that the Ukrainian army would disintegrate, that NATO would remain paralyzed by its internal divisions. You were wrong on every single count.

Four years and four months later, in June 2026, your satellite centers in the Moscow region are being struck. Your Gazprom Neft refinery has been hit for the second time in a week. Your anti-Starlink systems are destroyed in Crimea. 53 regions of your country face fuel shortages. And Ukraine still stands. That is not the outcome of a "72-hour special operation."

The real cost to your people

I hold no illusions about your people, Mr. Putin. I know that Russian propaganda is effective and that many of your citizens believe your narrative. But the empty gas stations in 53 regions, the fuel prices rising week after week, the sons and husbands who do not return from the front — these realities do not disappear with a Kremlin press release. Your war is costing Russia itself more and more, not just its Ukrainian victims.

History will judge this war. Not now, not in Russian state media — but in history books that will not be written by your regime. That judgment will be harsh. The destruction of Dubna and Vladimir on June 22, 2026 will be a footnote in that history — but a symbolic one: Ukraine struck your space capabilities in the region of your own capital. The war you thought you would win has turned against you.

To Zelensky: this strike deserves a clear explanation

Why Dubna and Vladimir were legitimate targets

Mr. Zelensky, this open letter speaks to you as well. Not to criticize, but to support a decision that deserves to be explained to international opinion. The satellite communications centers at Dubna and Vladimir are dual-use military infrastructure — they serve to coordinate Russian army operations in Ukraine. They are not civilian targets under international humanitarian law.

The ISW confirmed in its June 22 assessment that Ukraine maintains a targeted and methodical approach in its deep strikes — hitting infrastructure that directly contributes to Russian combat capability. This approach is not only strategically justified — it is morally defensible. Ukraine is defending itself with the means at its disposal. Striking the eyes and ears of the enemy is legitimate military strategy.

International pressure on deep strikes

I know, Mr. Zelensky, that some Western allies are uncomfortable with strikes on Russian territory. Germany long hesitated to authorize the use of its weapons against targets inside Russia. France and the United Kingdom were more permissive. Trump's United States has its own calculations. This allied dissonance complicates your situation.

But the military logic is inexorable: as long as you cannot strike the infrastructure feeding Russian aggression, you are fighting with one hand tied behind your back. Dubna and Vladimir were precise, documented, militarily relevant targets. Ukraine had the right to strike them. And according to Pravda Ukraine (June 25, 2026), your forces will continue this type of operation. It is the right strategy.

To the international community: you are witnessing a total war

The Dubna strikes challenge the concept of exclusion zones

The strike on the Dubna satellite center, a few dozen kilometers from Moscow, represents a qualitative shift in the conflict. For the first time, Ukraine has struck military infrastructure in the suburbs of the Russian capital with visible and documented impact. This did not trigger nuclear escalation. It did not cause catastrophic diplomatic rupture. Russia absorbed the strike and continued.

This precedent matters for the international community. It demonstrates that Russian red lines — so often invoked as justification for restricting support to Ukraine — are more flexible than Moscow claims. Putin cannot afford to escalate further without risking a Western response even more damaging to his position. The escalation blackmail has its limits, and Dubna reveals them.

Xinhua documents it; the West must respond

Notably, the first agency to exhaustively document the strikes on Dubna, the port of Kavkaz, and its ferries (June 22) was Xinhua — the Chinese state news agency. China is watching and recording every Ukrainian strike on Russian territory with careful attention. This is not neutrality — it is strategic intelligence gathering dressed as journalism.

The Western international community must understand that Ukraine is fighting on its behalf — for the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international law that the West itself established since 1945. Every Ukrainian strike on Russian military infrastructure is an act of defense of those principles. Supporting Ukraine means supporting the world order we chose to build.

The night of June 24–25: 19 regions, 269 drones, one message

The most intense night since the war began

On the night of June 24–25, 2026, Ukraine launched its largest drone offensive since the start of the war — striking 19 Russian regions simultaneously. Russia claims to have intercepted 269 drones. Even if that figure is accurate — and Russian interception numbers are often inflated — it means a significant fraction broke through the defenses and reached their targets.

The ISW of June 25 confirms these strikes were part of a coordinated campaign aimed at simultaneously degrading multiple nodes of Russian war infrastructure: communications, missile production, logistics. Geographic saturation is itself a strategic tool — it forces Russia to disperse its air defenses, reducing their effectiveness in each zone.

What that night says about Ukraine's transformation

In 2022, Ukraine was fighting to avoid destruction in 72 hours. In 2026, it is striking 19 Russian regions in one night. This transformation is the result of four years of Western military aid, Ukrainian tactical innovation, industrial adaptation, and national courage that no one anticipated at such intensity. It is also the direct result of support policies for Kyiv that allies maintained despite domestic pressure and Russian attempts to sow division.

The night of June 24–25 is not a final victory. But it is a powerful symbol of what Ukraine has become: an army capable of projecting deep strike power against an adversary that believed it was doomed. This capability must be maintained and reinforced. It is the best guarantee of a future peace negotiated from a position of strength, not capitulation.

To the international press — cover Ukrainian strikes without taboo

The coverage imbalance in this conflict

I am addressing here my fellow journalists and newsrooms around the world. The Ukrainian strikes on Dubna, Vladimir, and Voronezh on June 22, 2026 were reported — but sparsely, and often buried in the back pages. The first agency to document them exhaustively was Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency. That fact says something about the editorial priorities of Western media toward this conflict.

When Russia bombs Kyiv, Kharkiv, or Odesa, it is front page — and rightly so, because those bombings kill civilians. But when Ukraine strikes Russian military infrastructure deep inside the country — the 32-meter MARK-IV antenna at Dubna, the missile component factory in Voronezh, the space center in Vladimir — coverage is often more timid. As if describing those strikes in detail were equivalent to endorsing escalation. This double standard is a journalistic problem and a political one.

Why symmetrical coverage matters

Balanced media coverage of the Ukrainian conflict is essential. It helps the public understand the true nature of the conflict: a Ukrainian defensive war that now includes deep strikes on the aggressor's territory — 19 Russian regions in one night on June 24–25, 2026. It counterbalances Russian propaganda that frames Ukrainian strikes as "terrorist acts" while Russian bombardments are "special military operations." And it strengthens Western support by demonstrating that weapons funded by European and American taxpayers are producing concrete results on the ground.

Furthermore, documenting Ukrainian successes — the antennas destroyed at Dubna, the missile factories struck in Voronezh, the Volna Kupol Garant neutralized in Kerch — reinforces the credibility of Ukrainian resistance. Western publics need to see that the tools their taxes fund are working and contributing to weakening the aggressor. Balanced media coverage is an instrument of democratic support for Ukraine.

To hesitant governments — Russian red lines are more flexible than you think

Dubna did not trigger Armageddon

I am now addressing Western governments that long hesitated to authorize Ukraine to strike targets on Russian territory, fearing uncontrollable escalation. The strike on the Dubna satellite complex, a few dozen kilometers from Moscow, took place on June 22, 2026. It damaged a 32-meter antenna, a technical building, and central control equipment. It did not trigger a nuclear response. It did not cause a catastrophic diplomatic rupture. Russia absorbed the strike, issued its usual statements, and kept fighting.

This precedent matters. It demonstrates that the Russian red lines — so often invoked by cautious Western governments to limit support to Ukraine — are more flexible than Moscow claims. Putin brandishes the threat of nuclear escalation as a diplomatic blackmail tool. That blackmail works because the West grants it credibility. Dubna shows that you can strike in the suburbs of Moscow without triggering Armageddon. This reality must change the calculations of hesitant governments.

The doctrine of Western self-deterrence — a strategic error

Since 2022, some of Ukraine's allied governments practiced what military analysts call "self-deterrence" — limiting military support to Ukraine not for lack of capability, but out of fear of an escalation that Russia may never have intended to trigger. This self-deterrence came at a high price: months of delays in delivering tanks, aircraft, long-range missiles — capabilities that, if delivered earlier, might have changed the outcome of certain battles.

The night of June 24–25, 2026 — 19 Russian regions struck simultaneously, 269 drones according to Russian figures — is proof that Ukraine is now capable of striking at large scale and in depth on the territory of its aggressor. That capability was built with Western support. It shows what is possible when the West stops self-deterring and trusts Ukraine to calibrate its own strikes. That path must continue — without hesitation.

Conclusion: The letter of an unavoidable reality

Putin, the facts do not lie

This open letter — addressed to Putin, to Zelensky, and to the international community — is not rhetoric. It follows the facts: a Russian satellite center at Dubna struck on June 22, 2026, a 32-meter antenna damaged, a second center in the Vladimir region neutralized, a missile factory in Voronezh hit the same night, and 19 regions struck on June 24–25. These facts are not contestable. They are not Ukrainian propaganda — they are documented by the ISW, RBC-Ukraine, Pravda Ukraine, and even Xinhua.

The war you launched, Mr. Putin, has now reached your suburbs. Your space communications. Your missile factories. This geographic expansion of the war toward the heart of Russia is the direct and inevitable consequence of your aggression. You wanted a war — you have one. And it is coming home to you.

To the West: do not yield

In closing this letter, I have a word for the West as a whole: do not yield to fatigue. The Ukrainian strikes on Dubna and Vladimir are possible because Ukraine receives long-range drones and high-quality intelligence. Without that support, these strikes would be impossible. Every tool delivered to Ukraine is an investment in the stability of the international order that we all have an interest in preserving. Ukrainian resistance protects our values — let us fund it accordingly.

The reality of June 2026 is clear: Ukraine strikes farther, harder, and more precisely than ever before. The war is not won. But the terms of future negotiation are being set right now, in the ashes of the MARK-IV antenna at Dubna, in the ruins of the Volna Kupol Garant at Kerch, in the flames of the Moscow-area refineries. That reality must be supported. All the way.

Signed Maxime Marquette, columnist

Columnist's transparency box

On the open letter format and its scope

An open letter is an openly partial editorial genre — it assumes a position and addresses it directly to a real or symbolic interlocutor. This text makes no claim to neutrality. It is pro-Ukraine, critical of Putin, and calls for sustained Western support. These positions are those of the columnist, grounded in his analysis of the conflict since 2022.

All facts cited in this text are verifiable in the sources indicated. No dialogue, no direct quotation attributed to Putin or Zelensky, was invented. The epistolary format is a rhetorical device, not a pretext for fabricating facts. The line separating opinion from fact is maintained throughout the text.

Limits of the analysis

The technical details of the strikes on Dubna and Vladimir — precision, type of ordnance used, actual extent of damage — are not fully public. The estimates presented are those of Defense Express and the ISW, two serious sources whose reporting does not cover the full operational reality. The number of drones intercepted by Russia (269) is a Russian claim not independently verified.

The author acknowledges that some of Ukraine's allies have legitimate arguments about the escalation risks associated with deep strikes. Those arguments are not entirely dismissed by this essay — they deserve separate treatment. This text presents a point of view, not the totality of the strategic debate.

Sources

Primary sources

Defense Express via YouTube — Ukrainian satellite centers struck at Dubna and Vladimir — June 25, 2026

ISW — Campaign assessment, Voronezh and space strikes — June 23, 2026

Secondary sources

RBC-Ukraine — Ukraine's overnight drone attack reaches 19 Russian regions — June 24, 2026

Xinhua — Dubna, Kavkaz port, ferries — Documentation of Ukrainian strikes — June 22, 2026

ISW — Offensive campaign assessment, June 24, 2026 — June 25, 2026

Pravda Ukraine — Ukrainian deep strikes on Russian territory — June 25, 2026