Commander of Ukraine's 3rd Corps Biletsky: Russia runs short on manpower — you feel it every month.
The meat waves that were normal 7-8 months ago are gone, even at the hottest sections of the front. And Ukraine now dominates the air — from the first trench to 200km deep.
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Biletsky: Russia failed winter, failed spring. In May they captured roughly 10km² — Ukraine gained more.
When you can't win on the battlefield, you terrorize women and children. The tactical shift is happening right now.
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Biletsky: In 6-7 months Russia loses tactically on the ground.
Their answer: terror strikes on Ukrainian cities, new drone volumes to overwhelm air defense. Against drones alone, Ukraine can reach 100% interception.
Ukraine was supposed to have “no cards.” Now Putin is trapped in “zugzwang”.
Russia captured only 0.04% of Ukraine this year, lost territory in Apr, cut the Victory Day parade to 45 minutes, and now fears Ukrainian drones near Moscow, George Will for the WP. 1/
Zelenskyy turned Putin’s main war ritual into a security problem.
Ukraine “permitted” the May 9 parade by not striking Red Square, while fewer troops and vehicles appeared because Moscow feared drone attacks on staging areas. 2/
Russia’s battlefield gains now cost absurd amounts of manpower.
Putin’s troops can spend weeks losing hundreds of fighting-age men to seize patches of land the size of the National Mall. 3/
Russia's war spending can exceed its budget by at least $28 billion this year. In a worst-case scenario — $56 billion over.
The Finance Ministry asked the cabinet to freeze $40 billion of planned civilian spending through 2028 to cover the shortfall, FT.
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Russia allocated $238 billion, nearly 40% of this year's entire budget, to defence and security. Still not enough.
In the first four months of 2026, Russia's deficit already hit 2.5% of GDP — the largest since the full-scale invasion began.
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Finance Minister Siluanov: "Our reserves are not endless. We can't allow any weak points in our finances while such major transformations are going on in the world."
The economy ministry cut its 2026 growth forecast to just 0.4%.
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Ukraine hit Rosneft's Saratov oil refinery in southwestern Russia.
The plant processes 7 million tons of crude per year and produces fuel for Russia's military. This is the third strike on it this year. — Bloomberg. 1/
The same night, Ukraine hit an oil-pumping station on the Surgut-Gorky-Polotsk pipeline in central Russia's Kirov region.
Russia's Defense Ministry said 216 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight.
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The strikes are part of Ukraine's stepped-up campaign against Russian oil assets — refineries, pipeline infrastructure and ports — targeting Kremlin petrodollar revenue as the Iran war keeps oil prices elevated.
Russia declared it had captured all of Luhansk. Ukrainian drones answered by striking Izvaryne, the crossing on the Russian border that funnels armor, ammunition, and troops into the region.
The deepest strike landed 205 km inside occupied territory — Kyiv Post. 1/
Izvaryne is the primary artery moving heavy equipment and reinforcements from mainland Russia to the Donbas front.
Cut it, and resupply into occupied Luhansk slows for thousands of Russian troops. 2/
The corps' unmanned systems battalion bypassed Russian electronic warfare cover to reach the target.
Pilots neutralized armored vehicles and destroyed forward ammunition depots inside the occupied enclave. 3/