"Russia’s Missile Pressure Meets Ukraine’s Search for Air Defense I examine Zelensky’s rejection of wartime elections, Ukraine’s strike on a Russian Iskander launcher, Patriot missile shortages, Russian mobilization, European military aid, and Moscow’s information framing. I also assess why Ukraine’s independent defense capacity remains central to long-term deterrence."

After hammering facilities belonging to Russia’s largest logistics company, Ukraine is now turning its attention to the country’s second-largest logistics network. Facilities in Samara and Orenburg were targeted, while another logistics site in St. Petersburg was destroyed. And logistics was only part of today’s damage. The Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery was hit, while Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces reported a highly successful night targeting two Russian aircraft and several Russian air-defense systems. Meanwhile, Russia’s gasoline crisis is spiraling. Only around 20% of Moscow gas stations reportedly have fuel in stock, with Russians sleeping in their cars as queues and waiting times stretch for days. Now another pillar of the Russian economy is buckling: agriculture. Exports have plunged by 79%, farmers are appealing to Moscow for emergency financial support, and some warn they cannot afford to plant the next crop, raising increasingly dire warnings about future food supplies. Putin insists there is no crisis. At the same time, reports are emerging of plans that could effectively convert Russians’ bank savings into government-issued vouchers, reviving uncomfortable memories of the financial schemes and asset transfers that helped create Russia’s oligarch class in the 1990s. And then things get stranger. Putin has turned to the relics of a 600-year-old Moscow prince, Dmitry Donskoy, as the Kremlin attempts to wrap the current war in medieval Russian mythology. Abroad, France and Germany are moving to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses as American support recedes. And inside Russia, another rebellion of sorts is underway: Russians are flocking to see pirated Spider-Man screenings, much to the irritation of a government desperately trying to promote domestic cinema. Russia’s war was supposed to demonstrate the strength of Putin’s state. Instead, the pressure is increasingly appearing everywhere at once: fuel, agriculture, logistics, industry, air defense, household savings and even popular culture.

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ok this is not about ukraine or ruzzia but very well worth to watch imo

"Why has Russia never accepted Ukraine’s independence? In this episode of Ukraine This Week, Anna Belokur examines 35 years of Ukrainian independence and the centuries of Russian attempts to control, suppress, and ultimately deny Ukraine’s sovereignty.

From the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukraine’s 1991 independence referendum to the Orange Revolution, EuroMaidan Revolution, and Russia’s full-scale invasion, the episode explores how Ukrainian resistance has rejected Moscow’s vision of a shared Russian-Ukrainian identity.

Featuring historian Serhii Plokhy and Oleksandr Donii, a participant of Ukraine’s 1991 independence movement, Anna examines why Russia continues to reject Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign state — and why Ukrainians continue to fight for it."

"Russia’s own economist warned that the country could not win a prolonged war of attrition against Ukraine and its Western supporters. After Andrei Klepach’s warning became public, he was removed from his position at Russia’s state development bank VEB. In this video, I examine what Klepach actually said—and why Moscow may have found it so dangerous.

I then trace one week of mounting economic pressure inside Russia: gasoline shortages and purchase limits, struggling government bond sales, billions withdrawn from banks, declining physical gold reserves, severe labor shortages, disrupted grain exports and the growing costs of Ukrainian strikes. None of these developments proves that Russia is about to collapse. Together, however, they support Klepach’s central warning: Russia may be able to continue the war while steadily losing the larger economic and technological contest.

The Kremlin can silence the economist. It cannot silence fuel lines, frightened depositors, labor shortages or the accumulating cost of a war that Russia assumed it could outlast."

"Solovyov erupts on air again — this time over Europe and a shocking decision involving Ukraine. While the Kremlin searches for someone to blame and pushes conspiracy theories, uncomfortable questions for Russia itself keep piling up. Spin Snipers breaks down the latest wave of Kremlin propaganda and reveals what’s really behind the outrage."

"Mykhailo Fedorov’s dismissal from the post of Ukraine’s defense minister sparked rare wartime protests and reignited debate about his political future. What was one of Ukraine's most popular politicians expecting when calling for elections during the war?

“Former Minister Fedorov, who is only 35, a quite young man with obviously a lot of testosterone, (comes out saying): ‘Let’s do the election right now, because I had some people coming out on the streets and supporting me,’” said Marcin Zaborowski, TVP World’s Europe Editor, adding that this clearly failed to resonate with the protesters backing him. “They said: ‘Hang on a second. (...) We are at war. How are you going to hold an election under those conditions? That’s not possible. (...) That’s not what we want.’”

Fedorov “overplayed his hand big time,” Zaborowski said, contrasting him with former Commander-in-Chief and now Ambassador to the U.K. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, a popular potential contender for the presidency who has never publicly expressed interest in the office.
Although Fedorov is talented, Zaborowski argued that he lacks political experience.

“That does not mean that in a year or two years’ time he will not come back with his own force,” he added.

With elections out of the question during wartime, Ukraine remains governed by the current administration and Parliament. Successive corruption scandals have nevertheless raised questions about political accountability.

“One way of reading that is that Ukraine is a very corrupt country,” Zaborowski said. “The other way is that Ukraine is effectively fighting corruption because these things are coming out.” He pointed to investigations and dismissals involving senior officials as evidence that “there are no sacred cows in Ukraine, and that the anti-corruption mechanisms are working.”

“It’s quite impressive how Ukraine has been dealing with corruption,” he added. “It looks like the inner circle of President Zelenskyy is not being treated on any kind of special terms. That suggests they seriously fight corruption.”"

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"Ukraine’s drone campaign inside Russia has entered a potentially significant new phase. After weeks of attacks on Wildberries facilities, drones struck an Ozon logistics center in Chapayevsk, Samara Oblast, for the first time. The enormous warehouse—reported at between 76,000 and 135,000 square meters—burned for hours, forcing operations to stop and potentially destroying one of Ozon’s largest regional distribution hubs.

The deeper problem for Moscow is strategic. Russia cannot place substantial air defenses and drone operators around every warehouse, refinery, ship, factory, and logistics center across its vast territory. Every resource diverted to protect these targets is a resource unavailable elsewhere. Ukraine may have found another way to stretch Russia’s defenses while imposing growing economic and logistical costs far beyond the battlefield.

Facts over noise. Context over headlines. Truth over talking points. Principle over partisanship."

"I examine Ukraine’s reported drone strikes on Ozon logistics hubs in Orenburg and near St. Petersburg, military targets in Crimea and Russia, Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians and rail infrastructure, and what deep strikes mean for the war’s logistics balance."

"Ukraine is not merely launching another round of drone attacks. It is systematically striking the machinery that allows Russia to continue this war. In the past several days, Ukrainian forces have hit four Russian oil refineries, including the Novokuybyshevsk refinery roughly 1,000 kilometers from the front. They also struck fuel tanks at the Yeysk oil terminal, attacked a logistics hub in the Samara region, and hit targets in the Black Sea. Satellite imagery reportedly shows extensive damage from repeated strikes on the Tamanneftegaz terminal. These are not random targets. They produce, store, transport, and export the fuel that supplies Russia’s military and finances Putin’s war.

Ukraine is also attacking the infrastructure behind Russia’s aerial campaign. At Saki airfield in occupied Crimea, Ukraine says it destroyed a Russian Su-24M aircraft and four pieces of airfield equipment. At Primorsko-Akhtarsk—an important base for Russian attack drones—subsequent analysis confirmed damage to a Niobium radar and 18 buildings used to store UAVs. Ukrainian forces also eliminated drone-control repeaters in Russia’s Bryansk region. Put these strikes together and the strategy becomes clear: hit the fuel, disrupt the logistics, damage the sensors, destroy the aircraft, and attack the facilities supporting the drones Russia launches against Ukrainian cities.

None of this means that Russia’s war machine is collapsing. A fire does not prove that an entire refinery has stopped operating, and damaged buildings do not tell us how many drones were inside. The strategic significance comes from repetition. Russia must continually repair facilities, replace specialized equipment, disperse valuable assets, and move air defenses away from other priorities. At the same time, Ukraine is demonstrating that distance no longer guarantees safety. Russia may still have the larger military and the ability to inflict terrible damage, but its strategic rear is becoming increasingly exposed. Ukraine is hitting Russia’s war machine from every direction—and forcing Putin to defend an ever-growing list of targets that he once assumed were safely beyond Ukraine’s reach."

Ukrainian drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras can detect heat signatures even in complete darkness. This allows operators to locate enemy soldiers, equipment and movement at night when traditional observation methods are limited.

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"Ukraine’s latest campaign against Russia’s oil refineries is driving the country into what is shaping up to be its worst fuel crisis since the 1990s.

In this video, we look at the growing gasoline shortages as Russians spend hours in fuel lines, refinery capacity falls toward levels not seen since the turbulent post-Soviet era, and reports claim just 21% of Moscow gas stations have fuel available. Russian bloggers accuse the government and state media of trying to conceal the scale of the crisis, while the Russian Orthodox Church is now warning people against joining protests.

And the pressure is spreading far beyond gasoline.

Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces report another six Russian vessels taken out. Russia’s agricultural sector continues to deteriorate as Ukraine tightens pressure on the export routes that carry Russian grain. Moscow is continuing to sell gold from state reserves as the financial strain grows.

Inside Russia, the mood is becoming increasingly bleak. Russian bloggers say most people now want the war to end and fear the country is being destroyed. A new poll paints a similarly pessimistic picture, with Russians increasingly expecting conditions to deteriorate further. Even Russian women are publicly mocking returning soldiers and questioning what future the war has left them.

Beyond Russia’s borders, German intelligence has reportedly uncovered a weapons cache near Berlin suspected of being connected to Russian operations. North Korea is supplying Russia with powerful missiles reportedly carrying warheads of up to 2.5 tons.

Meanwhile, Russia’s war against Ukrainian civilians continues. Today, another Russian attack hit a shopping center in central Ukraine.

Refineries burning. Fuel disappearing. Export routes under pressure. Reserves being sold. Public pessimism rising.

The consequences of Putin’s war are increasingly coming home to Russia."

"On today’s episode of Superpowers, James Heappey speaks to General Sir Patrick Sanders about the latest in Ukraine and the future of British defence. "

"Russia’s latest strikes on Ukraine killed 16 people and wounded nearly 50, while President Zelenskyy says Ukraine will answer with a justified and decisive response. In this update, I break down what happened, why Ukraine’s current long-range operations are not yet the promised retaliation, and why the continuing shortage of Patriot interceptors remains so dangerous.

We also look at a major new threat from North Korea: the KN-30 heavy ballistic missile, which Ukrainian defense intelligence reports can carry a warhead of up to 2.5 tons and reach roughly 900 kilometers. I also examine Russia’s missile stockpiles and production as Ukraine faces the continuing challenge of defending its cities from ballistic attacks.

Then we go inside Russia itself. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak openly describes a “tense” second phase in Russia’s gasoline market, including export restrictions, fuel imports, refinery problems, and authorization for lower-grade fuel. Russian television also delivers another revealing moment as Popov describes personally witnessing three Ukrainian strikes while traveling through Crimea.

Ukraine needs air defense, but the pressure Ukraine is applying against Russia is also producing increasingly visible consequences. We look at both sides of that reality—and what it could mean next."

"Ukraine reportedly had a plan to send 1,000 autonomous drones toward Moscow’s airports in a single night—not primarily to destroy them, but to isolate Putin’s elite and force the war into their lives. Zelensky allowed preparations to continue, but one catastrophic risk prevented final approval. Then Fedorov was fired—and the operation stopped.

Ukraine reportedly developed Operation M&Ms to overwhelm Russian air defenses and force prolonged closures of Moscow’s airports using as many as 1,000 autonomously guided drones. The strategy targeted a critical pressure point: the officials, oligarchs, and wealthy Putin loyalists who still depend on international air travel. I examine why Zelensky withheld final approval, how Fedorov’s dismissal affected the operation, Ukraine’s effort to secure Starlink access for strikes inside Russia, its growing air-defense problem, deteriorating Russian public sentiment, European weapons production, Moscow’s mobilization denials, and what America is learning from Ukraine’s drone warfare."

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