Ukraine’s drone attack on airfields deep inside Russia on Sunday was a strategic and symbolic blow that military analysts said was designed to slow Moscow’s relentless bombing campaign and to demonstrate that Kyiv can still raise the cost of war for the Kremlin.

There were calls for a swift response across Russian media, and Ukrainians braced for retaliation even as they celebrated an operation that gave the beleaguered nation a much needed morale boost.

The extent of the damage of the simultaneous attacks was not fully known, with both sides putting out assessments that were not immediately verifiable.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 117 drones were used in the attacks, known as Operation Spiderweb — with a corresponding number of operators involved in remotely piloting the aircraft.

Ukraine’s security services, known as the S.B.U., said that 41 Russian aircraft were destroyed or damaged, which Mr. Zelensky said accounted for 34 percent of the strategic cruise-missile carriers at air bases across three time zones.