Though the knock-on effects are unclear, some military commentators have called the strike Russia's "Pearl Harbor." Hopes for direct peace talks, which resumed Monday, remain low.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Defense Minister Rustem Umerov would sit down with Russian officials at the second round of peace talks on Monday.

Ukraine has rapidly scaled up its drone production, now capable of manufacturing up to 10 million drones annually. These battle-tested UAVs, which are more cost-effective than other combat drones, are leading 80% of battlefield attacks.

The head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Malyuk, said a day after the strike that 41 enemy aircraft were destroyed. Other assessments, however, including one by BBC News Ukraine, tallied a more modest number, upward of 11 destroyed jets.

It was already hard to imagine a breakthrough emerging from the direct talks between Russia and Ukraine set to be renewed in Istanbul on Monday.

Belgium's defense minister compared the revolutionary impact of drones to that of gunpowder, as Europe boosts drone production for Ukraine.

The strikes help Kyiv "negotiate from a position of strength," Oleksandr Merezhko, the head of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told Newsweek.