658 deep strikes Ukraine conducted against Russia in 2025. Twice the 2022–2024 total.
The Economist: Small drones hit ports and refineries repeatedly before repairs finish, ballistic missiles enter serial production, Flamingo cruise missile reaches 3,000km.
1/
2026 pace: 800+ deep strikes. St Petersburg hit twice in one week in June — 800km from Ukraine's border.
A plume of black smoke above the port on June 3rd. Three days later, Ukraine blew up a nearby oil depot and naval base.
2/
Russia lost $18bn in fossil fuel revenue between June–December 2025. In the first four months of 2026 — 34% below what oil prices would normally generate.
3/
Russia shut down part of the secret surveillance system guarding Putin and his inner circle.
Engineers switched it back on only after sealing it off from the internet.
Russia acted after Israel used AI on Iranian cameras to find and kill Khamenei — FT. 1/
Israeli intelligence harvested footage from thousands of Iranian traffic cameras to pin down a February 28 meeting of Ayatollah Khamenei and his closest aides. Several top security officials died in the opening strike of the US-Israel war.
AI parsed millions of hours of video to isolate the targets from the crowd. 2/
Alexander Bortnikov, FSB director, told regional security chiefs on May 26 that Russia's own surveillance apparatus had turned into a weakness its enemies could exploit.
Bortnikov: The victims' locations were identified, in part, through software backdoors in Tehran's video surveillance systems. 3/
The tank is no longer the king of the battlefield.
In Finland, 18 miles from Russia, NATO watched Leopard 2 tanks get “destroyed” by anti-tank teams, drones and artillery in a simulated war game.
This is Ukraine’s lesson becoming NATO doctrine — The Telegraph. 1/
Russia has lost 11,974 tanks and almost 25,000 armored vehicles. Ukraine has lost around 5,700 tanks and armored vehicles to drones, mines and missiles.
Armor still matters, but alone it dies fast. 2/
In Ukraine, drones reportedly account for more than 90% of battlefield casualties, mostly tanks and armored vehicles.
A cheap drone can now find, track and help destroy a platform worth millions. 3/
Kasparov: On Bulgakov, my advice to Russian liberal society is simple: keep quiet.
While Russian missiles keep hitting Kyiv, Russians have no moral right to criticize Ukrainians for removing monuments tied to Russian culture, however much we value the literature. 1/
Kasparov: Every Russian missile that kills Ukrainian civilians widens the abyss between Ukraine and the Russian world.
It will take years before new generations can separate Pushkin, Bulgakov or Dostoevsky from the imperial culture now bombing them. 2/
Kasparov: Any participation in political procedures run by a fascist dictatorship helps legitimize it.
If the regime is illegitimate, how can you discuss the legitimacy of its elections? Even standing near the polling station means joining their staged process. 3/
Kasparov: Europe cannot enter talks with Putin as both mediator and participant.
If Europe acts as mediator, it starts trading Ukrainian territory. But if Ukraine stops fighting, Europe will have to fight Putin itself. Europe must be part of Ukraine’s coalition. 1/
Kasparov: Russia violates every treaty, bombs everything, kills civilians and still enjoys legal protections, lawyers, procedures and sovereign-money arguments.
But a missile flies faster than a court process. Europe still has not matched law to reality. 2/
Kasparov: Ukraine showed it can paralyze Russia’s second-largest city.
During the St. Petersburg forum, Kyiv demonstrated it can hit military targets with remarkable precision. If Ukraine sends ten times more drones, St. Petersburg will feel it very hard. 3/
Former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko: Ukraine launched 140 drones at St. Petersburg. Capacity is up to 1,000. Russia has no air defense against it.
That's drone diplomacy — and Putin can no longer ignore Ukrainian insistence.
1/
Poroshenko: Every day the price of aggression grows. Putin's window of opportunity is now.
Unconditional, comprehensive ceasefire — stop the war, freeze the conflict, sit at the table. US and EU at the table. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.
2/
Poroshenko: Time stopped working for Putin. Every month he pays more. Ukraine will never surrender — we have no choice.
The sooner Putin understands that, the sooner he moves toward ceasefire. And ceasefire doesn't save Ukraine — it saves Russia.