Exclusives
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Russia just copied Ukraine’s cleverest drone hunter. A $500,000 missile is a costly way of taking down a $50,000 attack drone. So the Russians are arming old planes with cheap interceptor drones. |
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Ukraine’s defense minister explained how the country buys weapons—after he was sacked. A sacked minister spent 90 minutes explaining how Ukraine buys shells. He told more than the ministry had published in six months. |
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Russia will read shops’ cash registers to police food prices it can’t tame. Unable to bring down food prices, Russia is building a system to watch them instead. |
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Crimea’s political prisoners lost their lifeline—because keeping it open would have put more people in prison. The Crimean Solidarity movement backed families of the detained in the occupied peninsula, arranged legal defense, and circulated information that fell outside the official Russian narrative. |
Team news
First order to Ukraine’s new commanders: modernize force while holding it. Zelenskyy said Skybiuk will head the General Staff under new army chief Drapatyi.
Military
Two Russian oil sites burning north of Kazakhstan—Ukraine hit both in the dark. The twin strikes reached about 800 and more than 1,300 kilometers into Russia, hitting Ulyanovsk and Bashkortostan facilities.
ISW: Russia has taken just 81 km² of Ukraine this year—while claiming 2,226. The false picture is not just propaganda for the public but material that appears to reach the desk of Russia’s leader, the think tank says.
Intelligence and technology
Ukraine’s newest frontline motorcycle drives over anti-vehicle mines and works as power station. Ukraine codified the MUL.E, its first all-wheel-drive electric military motorcycle, whose detachable generator can charge FPV drones and power a whole unit in the field.
For first time, Russia merged two separate drone types onto one Mesh network. Ukraine already has answer. Russia has linked its Molniya drones to Gerbera relay drones over a MESH network for the first time, previously incompatible, the presidential adviser said.
Two companies that actually build Patriots describe Ukrainian production as “just started,” while Russia is firing ballistic missiles every night. Two weeks after Trump promised Ukraine a Patriot license, Lockheed Martin and RTX say they are only in early talks and awaiting US government guidance.
Russia’s Su-57 newest stealth fighter crashes near Moscow—and the suspects are Russian air defenders. A Russian military blogger pointed at a mobile air-defense group guarding the capital, though no official confirmed the cause.
France hasn’t finalized terms or funding for the 16 Rafale jets promised to Kyiv. What a Paris summit unveiled two weeks ago remains, in the manufacturer’s own words, a stated intention rather than a purchase contract.
International
“Putin droned Jesus Christ”: Far-right Trump ally who opposed Ukraine aid says she was wrong after visiting Kyiv. Laura Loomer, a far-right activist close to Trump, visited the drone-damaged Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and told her followers Russia struck the heart of Christianity after years of pro-Kremlin rhetoric.
Humanitarian and social impact
Ukraine finds uranium in six more Russian drones. Their radiation readings ran up to 80 times background. The Security Service found uranium in Geran-2 warheads striking Chernihiv Oblast and warned residents not to touch drone fragments, which can release radioactive dust.
Political and legal developments
“I’m not agreeing to any other position”: Ukraine’s fired defense minister says only return to his former job will help end army procurement corruption. Mykhailo Fedorov says he will accept no post Zelenskyy offers except defense minister, arguing only three roles truly shape the war and he will take only his old one.
New developments
Russia’s construction on Crimea’s only World Heritage site exposed 500,000 artifacts. UNESCO has just declared complex is in danger. UNESCO added Chersonesus Taurica in occupied Crimea to its List of World Heritage in Danger.
Read our earlier daily review here.
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