The campaign’s objectives have been high profile.

St. Petersburg was attacked with drones before Putin’s main economic forum in June. Then there were attacks on Moscow itself, leading to videos of explosions that went viral.

There is now a confirmed attack on an oil refinery in Omsk, Siberia, 2,500 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. The drone must have flown undetected for many hours, demonstrating how overstretched Russia’s own air defenses really are.

Ukraine’s “influence” efforts also include Crimea, the peninsula that Putin seized in 2014 and which is deeply important to him personally.

Ukrainian drones attack military logistics, oil refineries and power plants almost daily, causing power outages, fuel and food shortages and an official state of emergency.

One local resident told the BBC the situation was “catastrophic”, reminiscent of the turbulent 1990s after the collapse of the USSR.

One of Putin’s great claims is that he “saved” the country from that chaos, raising Russia “from its knees.”

Now their all-out war is bringing danger even to Moscow in the form of drone strikes and widespread fuel rationing.

So Zelensky will tell NATO, and try to persuade Trump, that Ukraine has turned the tide in this war and that his pressure campaign can, with help, force Russia into proper peace negotiations.

Trump has seemed impressed by Ukraine lately, although he spoke with Putin for 90 minutes by phone this week, giving the Russian leader a chance to tell his war story first.

Above all, kyiv wants to quickly end this war, through “force or diplomacy,” before another grueling winter hits.

But to have any chance of achieving this, Zelensky will argue, Ukraine needs more interceptor missiles to protect its cities and its civilians.