Exclusives

Lyman holds. But for how long?. Lyman blocks the northern route to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Ukrainian counterattacks are protecting the city.

Russia’s oil production falls for sixth straight month as Ukrainian drone strikes hit storage and transport. Companies redirected crude to restored Baltic and Black Sea ports, lifting exports from 3.17 to 3.64 million barrels a day, while the extraction tax base underneath kept contracting.

Europe can legally quit Russian LNG today. It keeps choosing not to.. Since October, every long-term buyer has had legal cover to walk away from Russian LNG. Only Germany has even asked.

ISW: Russia gains ground in Kostiantynivka but Fortress Belt stays out of reach. Russia's strategy of stacking armies on one Donetsk Oblast city is producing slow infiltration, not the operational breakthrough Moscow needs to crack the fortified chain, ISW says.

Military

Russia's youngest war dead include more than 200 18-year-old soldiers, new data shows New investigation identifies over 226,000 Russian war dead in Ukraine amid sustained high battlefield casualties.

Ukraine launches major army reform: fixed contracts, revamped pay structure, and broader access for foreigners The new framework sets defined service terms, restructures compensation around role and combat intensity, and introduces changes to transfers and post-service guarantees, while also opening additional recruitment channels for foreign volunteers.

No air show, no confidence: Russia quietly cancels MAKS for fourth year as Ukraine intensifies strikes on Moscow region The decision follows a pattern of scaled-back public events amid sustained Ukrainian UAV strikes on refineries, tech sites, and military facilities around Moscow.

Ukraine confirms strikes on two Tatarstan refineries and rocket-fuel rubber plant in Tolyatti Ukraine's GenStaff reported fires at all three plants, while monitoring channels reported a fourth hit—on one of Europe's largest petrochemical complexes in the same Tatarstan city.

Russia can't attack NATO right now—ISW explains what the new border bases are really for The think tank says Russia's new NATO-border bases prepare post-Ukraine-war force projection, not a near-term attack.

Ukraine's drone commander says his branch killed or wounded 102,000 Russians in 12 months. It started with a grenade taped to drone that filmed weddings Robert "Madiar" Brovdi, the art-collecting ex-grain trader who runs Ukraine's drone branch, said his units account for every third Russian falling on the battlefield.

All three Rosneft Samara refineries now offline or reduced as drones halt Kuibyshevsky operations yesterday All three plants in Rosneft's Samara refining hub are now affected by Ukrainian strikes, with Kuibyshev's two primary units damaged on 10 June.

Russia's fuel crisis jumps from 15 to 25 regions in five days—plus six occupied Ukrainian areas The Russian Energy Ministry created a task force on 8 June to handle the gasoline shortage amid "growing enemy air attacks," but the crisis continued spreading anyway.

Ukrainian drones knocking out the northwestern entrance to Crimea: four bridges targeted in one night The occupation authorities reported the attacks on four bridges in the area of Armiansk.

Intelligence and technology

Storm Shadow maker MBDA and Ukrainian Armor launch partnership to develop deep strike and anti-drone systems The agreement links Ukraine's defense industry with one of Europe's leading missile manufacturers in a bid to develop next-generation battlefield systems.

How Ukraine uses AI to guide long-range drone strikes through electronic warfare and deep into Russian-controlled rear areas Ukraine's Defense Ministry says artificial intelligence is now integrated into long-range "middle strike" systems, enabling drones to navigate without reliable GPS, avoid electronic warfare disruption, and identify targets during the final phase of flight.

Abrams tanks in Ukraine get modular drone protection to survive in today's drone-dominated warfare The Abrams tank "Lucifer" has been equipped with layered anti-drone protection, illustrating how Ukrainian crews are reshaping Western armor for modern frontline conditions.

Passwords, drone feeds, secret orders: a Russian unit shared its own operations in public Telegram chat ASTRA reports the chat contained operational leaks, from drone feed access to command meeting links, as well as documents noting losses and mounting pressure on frontline units.

Germany's Diehl in talks to produce Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missile on German soil CEO Helmut Rauch announced a series of meetings with Ukrainian maker Fire Point in the coming weeks and called the company "optimistic and positive" about cooperation, says FT.

Ukraine's drone output grew 12.7% month-on-month, but chief commander says don't relax Ukraine maintains a 1.5-to-1 FPV drone advantage over Russia, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi confirmed at the monthly meeting.

German company that already supplies Ukraine with drones has unveiled Shahed-hunter aircraft with four weapons categories on single airframe The renders presented in Germany suggest the Pulse P19 has obvious application as Ukrainian air defense against Russian Shahed strikes.

International

EU opens first accession talks cluster for Ukraine and Moldova after years of delays and vetoes The European Union has opened the first cluster of accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova, marking the formal start of negotiations on core political and legal standards.

Poland reverses 17-month bus halt at Shehyni-Medyka after Ukrainian ministerial push Lviv Customs had announced a closure stretching to November 2027; bilateral talks preserved the summer corridor as Warsaw's posture toward Kyiv hardens elsewhere.

Humanitarian and social impact

Nawrocki vetoes one-year language reprieve as 441 mostly Ukrainian doctors lose right to practice Nearly 3,335 medics could face the same fate; the Supreme Medical Council had lobbied for the veto, Rzeczpospolita reported.

Polish foundation crowdfunds $39,500 for Vinnytsia after PiS opposition sank Kielce bus donation Fundacja Sikorki na Ukrainie set a 500,000-zloty target to buy 15 Solaris vehicles for a city whose electric tram network fails during Russian strikes.

Russia trained 900 more Ukrainian children at Volgograd — a camp Britain already sanctioned in 2024

Political and legal developments

15 tons of diesel, $22,500 in damages: Ukraine charges eight in Poltava military fuel-theft scheme The defendants face up to 15 years imprisonment.

"Heroes of UPA" unit will keep its name, Budanov's office says despite Polish pressure Polish media reported Kyiv was weighing a compromise to narrow the honor to UPA fighters who battled only the Soviet Union.

Read our previous daily review here.

At least 200 Russian soldiers aged 18 have been confirmed killed in Ukraine, according to a new joint investigation by BBC Russian and independent Russian outlet Mediazona, which has identified 226,055 Russian military deaths since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been defined by exceptionally high and sustained casualty rates across all phases of the war, driven by large-scale frontal assaults, prolonged artillery duels, and the expanding use of drone warfare that has widened the lethal “kill zone” across much of the frontline. 

At least 200 confirmed 18-year-old soldiers among Russia’s war dead

The youngest confirmed casualty in the latest update was born in 2008, marking the first recorded 18-year-old in the dataset. Researchers say the overall figure includes more than 200 teenagers aged 18, underscoring the scale of young recruits being sent into combat.

One case highlighted in the report is that of 18-year-old Alisher Svirin, who died on 1 May 2026 and was buried later that month in Moscow Oblast. He had signed a contract and served in a motor rifle brigade as a machine gunner. According to the investigation, he could not have spent more than a few months in service before being killed.

Regional patterns show disproportionate burden in poorer Russian republics

Regional data also highlights a consistent imbalance in casualty distribution, with poorer regions such as Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, and Tuva showing significantly higher per-capita losses than Russia’s largest cities. 

Researchers attribute this gap to recruitment patterns that rely more heavily on economically disadvantaged areas, where military service offers relatively higher financial incentives.

At the same time, major urban centres such as Moscow remain underrepresented in the casualty lists, reflecting both demographic differences in recruitment and uneven exposure to frontline deployments.

Open-source records show limits of confirmed casualty tracking

The database is compiled from publicly available sources, including obituaries, official regional announcements, social media posts, and burial records. Analysts say it likely captures only a portion of total losses.

The report notes that more than half of confirmed deaths now come from volunteers, mobilised personnel, and convicts recruited from penal colonies, reflecting Russia’s reliance on short-training pipeline forces for frontline deployments.

Battlefield drone warfare is reshaping how deaths are recorded and counted

Researchers also say the structure of the battlefield has changed the visibility of losses. Widespread drone warfare has expanded the “kill zone” across large sections of the front, making recovery of bodies difficult and delaying official confirmation of deaths, sometimes for months or years.

Based on current estimates, analysts suggest Russia’s real death toll could be significantly higher than identified figures, potentially reaching between 347,000 and 502,000 when accounting for incomplete data coverage.

European missile systems manufacturer MBDA and Ukrainian defense company Ukrainian Armor have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore joint development of deep-strike systems and counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), marking a new phase of industrial cooperation linked to the war in Ukraine, MBDA announced on 10 June.

MBDA expands cooperation with Ukraine’s defense industry

MBDA is one of Europe’s leading defense firms specializing in guided missile systems across air, land, and naval domains. It is also the maker of the Storm Shadow / SCALP-EG cruise missile, which has been supplied to Ukraine by European partners for long-range strike missions.

Ukrainian Armor is a domestic Ukrainian defense manufacturer involved in producing armored vehicles, artillery systems, ammunition, and unmanned platforms, and has expanded significantly since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Cooperation to focus on long-range strike systems and counter-drone technologies

The agreement sets out a framework for long-term cooperation, including joint development projects, technology exchange, and potential co-production initiatives, with the possibility of establishing a future joint venture.

The focus is on two priority areas: “deep strike” capabilities for long-range precision attacks, and counter-unmanned aerial systems designed to detect and neutralize drones, which have become central to battlefield dynamics in Ukraine.

Ukraine to strengthen domestic defense production with European expertise

MBDA said the partnership is intended to help strengthen Ukraine’s independent industrial capacity, while leveraging European experience in advanced missile and air defense systems. Ukrainian Armor will contribute production capability and operational experience across armored vehicles, munitions, and unmanned systems developed under wartime conditions.

Both sides said the cooperation aims to combine European technological expertise with Ukrainian battlefield-driven innovation, creating a framework for deeper defense-industrial integration.

Ukraine and Moldova have taken a key step in their EU accession process after all 27 member states agreed to open the first negotiation cluster covering “fundamentals,” marking the formal start of structured membership talks, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

The opening of the first EU accession negotiation cluster marks a long-delayed breakthrough for Ukraine and Moldova after years of internal EU divisions and vetoes, including from Hungary. It formally starts talks on core governance reforms, following repeated postponements despite earlier candidate status.

EU says accession step reflects wartime reform progress and core EU standards

Von der Leyen said the decision reflects recognition of both countries’ progress on reforms despite wartime conditions and sustained political pressure. 

She said the cluster on fundamentals forms “the backbone of the accession process,” covering rule of law, democratic institutions, and core EU principles. 

“This is a recognition of the determination, courage and hard work shown by both countries in advancing reforms, even in the face of immense challenges,” she said.

She added that enlargement is a “strategic choice,” arguing that bringing new members closer to the bloc strengthens “peace, security and prosperity across our continent,” and said a larger EU is “our best investment in our shared future.”

Zelenskyy welcomes opening of first accession cluster as “strong step for Europe”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the decision, thanking EU partners and individual leaders for what he described as a “strong step for Europe.” 

He said Ukraine continues to deliver reforms despite the war and that the EU is now fulfilling its commitments in return. 

Zelenskyy said opening the first cluster is “a significant political and moral support for our state and our people,” and stressed that Ukraine is working to ensure readiness for the next stages of accession talks.

He added that Kyiv is grateful for international support and said the EU’s backing helps Ukraine defend not only itself but “the idea that European nations can live united, free, and in peace.”

Hungary’s veto lifted after minority rights agreement clears path for accession talks to advance

The move follows months of procedural preparation within the EU, after the Cyprus presidency initiated steps to open the first negotiation cluster for Ukraine and Moldova. 

The cluster on fundamentals is the first and most sensitive stage of accession talks, and must be opened unanimously by all member states before negotiations can proceed further.

The breakthrough comes after Hungary’s prolonged veto over the start of accession negotiations with Ukraine was lifted. 

Budapest had previously blocked progress over disputes including minority rights in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast, which borders Hungary and contains a number of ethnic Hungarians, stalling the launch of negotiation clusters despite Ukraine receiving candidate status in 2022. 

The recent shift followed a change in Hungary’s political leadership and an agreement on minority rights, removing a key obstacle to advancing the accession framework.

EU enlargement process slowed for years by internal divisions despite technical preparations continuing

Enlargement talks remained stalled for years due to internal divisions, including Hungary’s veto, even as broader momentum built across the bloc. 

While technical preparations for “clusters” were advancing, the formal opening required unanimous agreement and had been repeatedly delayed despite Ukraine’s expectation that talks could begin sooner. 

Enlargement remains a long-term process requiring sustained reforms across governance, judiciary, and economic policy before membership is possible. No country has completed the process since Croatia joined in 2013.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense is introducing a sweeping overhaul of military service rules that restructures contracts, pay systems, personnel movement, and reintegration procedures across the armed forces, the ministry announced on 12 June.

The reforms are part of a broader 2026 reorganization of service conditions under the new defense leadership of Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, aimed at stabilizing manpower, improving retention, and formalizing career pathways during wartime. The package establishes a more predictable framework for service terms, compensation, and transfers while prioritizing reinforcement of frontline combat units.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy endorsed the reform package, saying military and government leaders had agreed on a path to “increase the financial sustainability of our defense and ensure the further transformation of the Ukrainian army.”

New contract system split into three service categories

The Ministry introduced three contract types: infantry-assault (“pihotno-shturmovyi”), combat, and basic service contracts, each linked to specific roles and operational exposure.

The infantry-assault contract covers frontline positions including infantry, assault troops, combat medics, gunners, and drivers in combat units. Combat contracts apply to drone operators, electronic warfare specialists, artillery crews, and other battlefield support roles, while basic contracts cover non-combat and rear-area positions.

Service terms are fixed: 6, 10, or 14 months for infantry-assault roles depending on prior service status, and 24 months for combat and basic contracts.

Pay structure tied to role and operational intensity

The system combines a base salary of 20,000 hryvnias ($450 USD) with variable payments based on role and battlefield conditions.

Monthly compensation ranges from at least 30,000 hryvnias ($670 USD) in rear positions to significantly higher levels in combat roles, with infantry-assault positions at the top of the scale. Under the framework, total monthly pay may reach up to 120,000 hryvnias ($2,670 USD) depending on deployment intensity and task execution.

A tiered bonus system adds payments linked to operational activity, including participation in frontline operations, command-level missions, and assault actions. Additional fixed incentives apply for outcomes such as capturing prisoners or confirmed combat kills.

Eligibility for certain payments is verified through a digital mission control system that records presence in designated operational zones.

Zelenskyy also announced planned pay increases for combat commanders, saying the measure is intended to help retain experienced leadership within frontline units.

He said the Cabinet of Ministers is expected to approve the implementation mechanism, with the first additional payments potentially beginning in June.

Fixed-term service with post-contract leave guarantees

All contract types include defined service terms followed by a structured post-service leave period. The duration of this leave is calculated based on total service length and combat participation, with longer operational involvement extending the guaranteed break.

The system is designed to create a predictable cycle of service, recovery, and re-engagement, supported by legally defined post-contract guarantees.

Automated transfers through Army+ system

Automatic transfer approvals are introduced through the Army+ digital platform. Eligible personnel up to senior sergeant rank and outside officer positions can request transfers once per year within their corps’ operational sector.

Transfers are limited to units within the same command area, with processing handled digitally to reduce administrative delays while maintaining operational control. A pilot rollout is planned in selected corps before wider expansion across the armed forces.

Structured return from unauthorized absence

A temporary 100-day mechanism allows personnel who left service without authorization before 11 June 2026 to return under a simplified procedure.

Applications are processed digitally, with verification completed within several days. Returning personnel can select from a list of eligible units, with pay and benefits restored upon formal reintegration into service.

The mechanism is designed to streamline reintegration while restoring personnel to active duty under controlled conditions.

Part of wider force restructuring

The Ministry of Defense says the package is intended to modernize Ukraine’s wartime force structure by combining fixed-term contracts, role-based compensation, and digital personnel management tools.

Separately, Zelenskyy instructed officials to expand recruitment pathways for foreign volunteers seeking to serve in Ukraine’s armed forces, saying additional recruitment mechanisms would be introduced. No further details were immediately released.

Further stages of reform are expected as the system is tested and expanded across the armed forces.

The city of Lyman, in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, stands between Russian forces and their main objectives as Russia's wider war on Ukraine grinds into its 52nd month: the twin cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

To attack Sloviansk and adjacent Kramatorsk from the north, the Russians must first march through or around Lyman and then travel another 13 km along the T0514 road. But the Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps is doing its best to spoil the Russian attack—by counterattacking behind the lead Russian elements.

It's been a successful strategy for the Ukrainians. Since late May, mappers and analysts have noted evidence of Ukrainian troops marching through the villages of Nove and nearby Katerynivka, 16 km northeast of Lyman. The villages buttressed the northern edge of a Russian-held salient just north of Lyman.

If the Russians had succeeded in extending the salient farther to the west, they may have succeeded in partially surrounding Lyman, potentially putting pressure on Ukrainian supply lines into the city. The Ukrainian counterattacks along the northern edge of the salient around Nove and Katerynivka did to the Russians north of Lyman what the Russians were trying to do to the Ukrainians in Lyman: threaten their supply lines.

Now the Russians are reeling and Ukrainian troops are pushing back against the westernmost edge of the salient. Analyst Andrew Perpetua claimed he logged Russian social media posts, which he explained have since been deleted, that purportedly indicated meaningful Ukrainian advances at multiple points around the tip of the salient.

"All evidence suggests that Ukraine has advanced further than any map currently depicts north of Lyman," Perpetua wrote. "Russians say Ukraine has captured towns and other areas that were once firmly held are now contested."

The Ukrainian attacks on the salient north of Lyman are good news for the overall Ukrainian defense not just of Lyman, but also of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Preventing an encirclement of Lyman could forestall a Russian advance past the city—and delay or block a northern assault on Sloviansk and then Kramatorsk.

Southern approach

That doesn't mean the Russians won't march on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk from another direction. Having occupied the ruins of Pokrovsk and neighboring Myrnohrad early this year, the Russians are now staging for a southern assault toward Kramatorsk and then Sloviansk.

But the most direct route, along the H-20 highway, is blocked by the Ukrainian garrison in Kostiantynivka, 15 km south of Kramatorsk. Here, the Russians are enjoying much greater success than they are around Lyman. Successfully pushing the disputed gray zone north until it fully encompassed Kostiantynivka, the Russians can now infiltrate the city from several directions.

"There are a number of positive trends on the battlefield for Ukraine compared to 2025 (and advances in some directions), but the situation in Kostiantynivka is still deteriorating," noted Rob Lee, an analyst with the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.

According to mapper Clément Molin, the most optimistic scenario for Russia is that its forces occupy Lyman and Kostiantynivka this summer, possibly allowing the Russians to lay siege to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk by the end of the year.

But Lyman holds thanks in part to those counterattacks and Kostiantynivka is "holding longer than thought," Molin noted. So the optimistic scenario for Russia may be slipping away.

That means the pessimistic scenario for Russia is increasingly likely. In that scenario, Molin explained, the Russians capture Lyman too late to lay siege to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk this year. "That's what is currently happening," Molin concluded.

For Ukraine, even delaying a Russian siege of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk represents a major win. Time means opportunity, and Ukrainian drone forces have been seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Russian supply lines all across occupied Ukraine.

The counterlogistics campaign could reshape the entire battlefield in the coming months. For Russia, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are realistic objectives right now, even if it takes another six months for Russian forces to reach the twin cities. That could change as Ukraine continues fraying Russian supply lines.

Explore further

Ukraine is droning Russian ships. The goal: to create supply bottlenecks on land.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) says artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated into so-called “middle strike” systems, enabling long-range drones to operate in heavily contested electronic warfare environments and strike targets at operational depth.

Officials say the systems are part of a broader program aimed at disrupting Russian logistics and supply chains, with Ukraine reporting a sharp increase in strikes on transport routes, depots, command posts, and equipment concentrations in recent months.

The MoD explains that the use of AI is intended to overcome two key constraints in this operational zone: heavy electronic warfare interference that disrupts satellite navigation, and dense air defense coverage that limits predictable flight paths.

AI takes over control at target approach phase

According to the ministry, AI systems are not active throughout the entire mission. Drones are initially flown under operator control, but once they reach a designated target grid, onboard systems take over navigation and targeting.

At that stage, onboard computers and optical sensors begin real-time analysis of the surrounding area, switching from manual guidance to autonomous control for the final approach.

Visual navigation without GPS using terrain matching

The ministry says drones equipped with AI systems are able to operate without reliable satellite navigation by using onboard cameras and computer vision models.

These systems continuously scan terrain features such as roads, rivers, and landscape contours, and compare them against preloaded high-resolution satellite imagery. 

This allows the drone to determine its position based on visual correlation rather than GPS signals, which are often degraded or spoofed by electronic warfare.

Automated target recognition and terminal strike adjustment

In the terminal phase, AI systems analyze live video feeds to identify military equipment based on trained visual patterns. The system is designed to distinguish between different types of targets and automatically assign a tracking marker once a valid target is recognized.

Once a target is locked, the AI adjusts flight controls in real time to guide the drone into a final dive trajectory.

The ministry also says the system can reduce misidentification risks by distinguishing between real equipment and decoys using multiple indicators, including geometry, surface texture, and thermal signatures.

Russian forces are increasingly trying to counter these AI-assisted drone targeting systems using methods such as painting military vehicles with high-contrast zebra-like stripes. Experts say the markings are designed to confuse computer vision models trained to identify standard vehicle shapes and camouflage patterns.

Route planning shaped by electronic warfare conditions

The MoD says AI is also used before launch to optimize flight paths. Planning systems incorporate intelligence on Russian air defense and electronic warfare deployments, selecting routes that minimize exposure.

This includes analysis of radar coverage, identification of terrain masking opportunities, and the use of blind spots in air defense systems. The goal, according to officials, is to ensure drones can reach operational depth targets despite dense electronic warfare and interception layers.

“Logistics Lockdown” program and expanded strike depth

Ukraine says these systems are being deployed as part of a wider “Logistics Lockdown” program aimed at increasing pressure on Russian military supply chains.

Officials say “middle strike” operations are now being scaled to target Russian logistics, infrastructure, and military assets at distances of up to 200 kilometers behind the front line.

The MoD says the approach is designed to combine intelligence, long-range strike capability, and automation to increase the tempo and effectiveness of attacks on Russia’s rear support systems.

Ukraine’s 160th Separate Mechanized Brigade has published new photos of its Abrams tank “Lucifer,” showing how Ukrainian crews are adapting Western armor to survive the increasing FPV drone threats on the front line that are defining modern warfare.

Drones have significantly reduced the battlefield advantage of tanks by enabling low-cost, precise strikes against weak points in armored vehicles. This has forced Ukrainian crews to adapt heavy armor with additional protective structures, including cage-style and modular field modifications.

Abrams tank “Lucifer” fitted with modular anti-drone cages

According to Defense Blog, the tank is an M1A1 AIM Abrams operated by the brigade’s tank battalion and is among 49 vehicles transferred to Ukraine by Australia. The vehicle has been fitted with extensive modular cage-style protection covering the turret, hull sides, and rear.

Defense Blog notes that the modifications are designed to counter FPV drone threats, which increasingly target weaker sections of armored vehicles such as engine decks, rear armor, and roof areas. 

The cage system reportedly allows the turret to rotate freely while maintaining overhead protection, addressing a key limitation of earlier field modifications that restricted combat use.

Adaptation of Western armor under drone-dominated conditions

FPV drones have become one of the most widespread threats to armored vehicles on the front line, forcing Ukrainian crews to repeatedly modify Western-supplied systems in the field.

Defense Blog reports that the design seen on “Lucifer” reflects a more structured approach to these adaptations, moving beyond improvised protection toward modular systems that can be replicated across units. 

Separate protective sections for the turret and hull are intended to preserve maneuverability while expanding coverage against drone attacks from multiple angles.

The outlet adds that Australian-supplied Abrams tanks are now integrated into Ukraine’s operational fleet in frontline sectors, where crews continue to adjust battlefield equipment based on real-time combat experience.

160th Brigade highlights Abrams combat role

The unit said few systems match a tank for firepower and protection, describing the Abrams as a vehicle that “clears the way where the enemy tries to hold its positions.” 

It added that crews are prepared to carry out high-risk missions under fire. The brigade also said that naming a tank “Lucifer” reflects its combat role and warned that it gives opposing forces “every reason to worry.”

Purchasing a used vehicle is often the smarter financial decision for many UK drivers. While some people consider buying new to be better than buying used, modern vehicles last longer than ever before, which has some serious implications for buying used or new. In the first year alone, cars lose between 15% and 35% of their value due to depreciation, regardless of mileage or condition. That means you can pick up a bargain that has all the latest technology, is still under warranty and has already taken the biggest financial hit. 

The above also applies to cars older than one year. So in this article, we will go over the different ways you can save thousands when buying a used car, how to get the most of the practical benefits, and also address some of the common concerns about buying pre-owned cars. Whether you’re a first-time car buyer, a budget-conscious consumer or a happy family looking for a vehicle to fit everyone, we’ll help you decide whether to buy new or used with our list of 10 reasons why used vehicles tend to provide better value. Enjoy!

1. Lower purchase price

One of the main advantages is the lower price of a used car. Not only will the car naturally depreciate over time, but the seller will often be willing to negotiate a slightly lower price than they are asking. By the third year of a car's lifetime, you can often expect the price to be roughly 50% of the original sales price, which for many is an ideal time to strike.

For instance, a three-year-old Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, or Nissan Qashqai costs roughly £15,000, compared with £30,000 new, saving you around £15,000. That’s 50% off the new price, simply by letting the first owner absorb the steepest depreciation. And those savings you gain on a family hatchback or small SUV are enough to cover 3–5 years of fuel, insurance, and servicing for the foreseeable future.

These lower prices also open up the door for better trim and equipment levels. You may even get a luxury car aged two or three years at an equal or lesser cost than a brand new basic model. Suddenly, all these things that were only dreams before, such as the big screen touch navigation, parking sensors, front and back cameras and even nice-to-haves like LED matrix headlights, have all become a reality.

2. Avoid major first-year depreciation

As stated in the intro, new cars lose value quickly after purchase. But since you are buying a good-quality, lightly used car, this depreciation is already factored in. By year three, the car's value typically drops by only 5–10% per year. And because the car now costs much less, the actual cash you lose each year is smaller, too. 

There are some differences when it comes to deprecation, however. Certain brands hold value better than others. Cars like Porsche, Morgan and Land Rover tend to drop less in value over time, and perhaps surprisingly, so does Dacia, which is probably due to the low price of a brand-new model to begin with.  On the other side of the spectrum, we find brands like Lotus and Vauxhall, or even Peugeot and Citroën, that tend to drop their prices faster than average.

3. Lower insurance costs

Another benefit of opting for a pre-owned car on the UK market has to do with significantly lower insurance. Used vehicles often cost less to insure, partly due to the value having already depreciated a fair bit, but also because they are less interesting for car thieves, which is another benefit in and of itself.

4. More vehicle choices within the same budget

Buying used provides you with a much wider selection of makes and models as compared to buying new cars at the same price level. You may opt for different year models, compare different generation models or go for a switch from cheap models to high-end models such as Audi, BMW, and Volvo, thereby improving your odds of acquiring your dream car rather than what you can afford.

5. Modern cars last much longer than before

Thanks to significant developments in design, production, and maintenance technology, current vehicles run far longer than they did a few decades ago. Better rust protection, synthetic oils, and onboard computer systems also help to prevent many of the issues that used to shorten a car's life. Furthermore, current diagnostic technologies can identify problems early so that fixes may be applied before they get serious and pricey. 

6. Lower registration and ownership costs

In Britain, vehicle excise duty, also called road tax, is partially determined by the list price of the car when it was new. The benefit of buying second-hand is that one does not have to pay the hefty fee that comes with the first year. Over several years of ownership, these savings on registration and ongoing taxes add up significantly. 

7. Better value for families and first-time buyers

For first-time purchasers or those on a budget, a secondhand car makes much more sense. Less financial risk than with a brand-new car and occasionally easier financing criteria on a less expensive secondhand car help you. That releases family money for insurance, petrol, education expenses, or savings, which is a far more sensible use of limited resources. 

8. Vehicle history reports increase transparency

Today's used car consumers have access to more knowledge than ever before. Within seconds, services like HPI Check or carVertical show you mileage records, prior ownership, accident history, and pending finance. By combining information from MOT records, insurance databases, and the DVLA, these reports help you to expose issues a vendor may not disclose. 

While most UK sellers are honest, it does not hurt to verify these things yourself, whether that relates to potentially clocked mileage, a written-off status, or unpaid finance. When getting a report from reputable sites like carVertical, they even include MOT test photos to spot repaired damage. For a small fee of £10–£20, this simple check can save you from a costly mistake. Buying used becomes far less uncertain, allowing you to answer questions such as “how many owners has my car had?”

9. Certified pre-owned vehicles offer additional protection

Manufacturer-backed approved used schemes, such as BMW Premium Selection or Ford Direct, give you a car that has passed rigorous inspections and comes with a warranty. You also get roadside assistance and a full service history. Compared with a private sale, certified pre-owned offers near-new peace of mind at a fraction of the new price. 

10. Used cars can deliver nearly the same experience

In most cases, a vehicle that is two to five years old is pretty much as new as a brand-new vehicle. It will have all the same features, such as infotainment, touchscreen, mobile phone connection, safety features, and even assistance driving. Buyers sacrifice very little in daily driving experience while saving thousands of pounds. 

Tips for buying a used vehicle safely

• Inspect the vehicle.
• Review service records.
• Check ownership history.
• Obtain a vehicle history report.
• Take a thorough test drive.
• Consider a pre-purchase inspection.

Conclusion

The savings on the high amount of first-year depreciation alone can translate to several thousand pounds, which can be better utilised on a higher spec, reduced premiums or just reassurance. With today's cars being designed for longevity, a carefully maintained model even after three years of use is as good as new.

Using resources such as an HPI check, CPO (certified pre-owned) models, and third-party inspections makes the process easy and allows you to shop with confidence, as there is less risk involved in today's market compared to what was encountered before by used car buyers.

In essence, "used" no longer implies obsolete or a poor choice. It now means better value for your money. For a first-time buyer who is very keen on their finances, parents needing space or a buyer wanting extra equipment for their car at a lower price, buying a used model provides a definite advantage over new models.

Russia has removed the International Aviation and Space Salon (MAKS) from its 2026 exhibition calendar, effectively cancelling the event for a fourth consecutive year and pushing its return to 2027, according to a government order cited by The Moscow Times.

The exhibition was once a flagship showcase for Russia’s aviation and defense industry, drawing international delegations and major arms manufacturers. Its continued suspension highlights how the war has increasingly affected even symbolic elements of Russia’s defense sector.

The decision also affects the Hydroaviasalon air show, which has been shifted to the same year. No official reason was given for the move.

MAKS repeatedly postponed since 2021 amid wartime disruptions

MAKS, traditionally held at Zhukovsky airfield near Moscow, was last staged in person in 2021, prior to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, it has been repeatedly downgraded or postponed, with online-only formats replacing physical displays in 2024–2025.

The cancellation comes as Russia continues to scale back or relocate major public and symbolic events under what officials describe as a “security situation” linked to the war, The Moscow Times reports.

Ukrainian deep-strike campaign increasingly reaches Moscow region

In recent months, Ukrainian long-range drone operations have increasingly reached Moscow and the surrounding oblast, targeting infrastructure tied to military production and logistics. 

Strikes reported in May hit industrial sites in and around the capital, including facilities linked to electronics and fuel distribution networks, while Russian authorities have acknowledged repeated drone incursions over the wider Moscow area.

Expanding reach of Ukraine’s long-range strike strategy

Analysts say the pattern reflects a broader shift in Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign, which has expanded from border regions and occupied territories to more frequent attempts to penetrate central Russian air defense layers. The goal is not only economic pressure, but also disruption of systems tied to command, production, and energy supply.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on the MAKS decision, but Kyiv has repeatedly framed long-range strikes as a response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

The suspension of MAKS also follows a wider trend of reduced large-scale public events in Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including scaled-back national celebrations and security-restricted gatherings in Moscow.

Members of Russia’s 143rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment reportedly spent nearly a year publishing links to command videoconferences, internal military documents, and sensitive operational information in a publicly accessible Telegram group, according to an investigation by Russian OSINT outlet ASTRA.

The group, named "Blyadskaya Organizatsiya" (Fucking Organization), allegedly contained daily links to Yandex Telemost video conferences attended by regimental headquarters staff, political officers, and command personnel. The open nature of the chat meant that anyone who joined could view and potentially access these scheduled command sessions.

According to the report, the chat also included lists of servicemen, ammunition requests, surveillance-system records, and spreadsheets containing login credentials, passwords, and two-factor authentication keys used to access live drone feeds.

Operational orders and deception plans reportedly exposed

ASTRA reported that the leaked materials included internal orders from Russia’s 5th Army, including directives related to combat operations, reconnaissance, and battlefield deception.

One document reportedly instructed units on the Vremivka front in southern Ukraine to construct fake military positions and simulate activity around them to mislead Ukrainian intelligence. 

The measures allegedly included staging vehicle movements, creating smoke from field kitchens, and generating images designed to appear as if they had been secretly taken by pro-Ukrainian local residents.

The report also claims the group contained plans for “radio games” – scripted false radio communications intended to create a misleading picture of Russian troop movements for Ukrainian signals intelligence.

Military codewords also exposed

ASTRA reported that the chat contained internal reference materials used by Russian forces during operational communications in occupied parts of southern and eastern Ukraine.

Among them were codewords assigned to rivers that commanders had reportedly been ordered to distribute for use in audio and video communications. 

Their appearance in a publicly accessible Telegram group suggests that information intended to support operational security was itself left exposed.

Documents reveal concerns over battlefield losses

Among the materials cited by ASTRA was an August 2025 order from the headquarters of Russia’s 5th Army stating that assault units were suffering losses because of inadequate supply and ineffective use of robotic systems.

The document reportedly instructed units to equip automated ground vehicles with Starlink terminals and regularly report their availability.

ASTRA also said it found documents related to psychological operations against Ukrainian forces, including plans to distribute propaganda leaflets by drone.

Security concerns surfaced before group went silent

According to ASTRA, the Telegram group stopped updating on 4 May after one of its administrators noticed unfamiliar users joining the chat.

“Then come strange stories about leaked data and hacked accounts. Security above all else,” an administrator reportedly wrote shortly before activity ceased.

Germany's missile maker Diehl Defence is negotiating to manufacture Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missile in Germany, the Financial Times reported. Talks with the Ukrainian developer Fire Point are planned for the coming weeks, as European states hunt for weapons able to reach deep into Russia.

"This could really happen"

Diehl chief executive Helmut Rauch briefed journalists during the ILA Berlin Air Show.

"We are in discussions about how we could work together," he said. "I think this could really happen. In the next few weeks, we have several meetings regarding this and then we will see." 

For a new product, he added, it "makes a lot of sense to have it also in Germany or other countries," and Diehl is "optimistic and positive" about cooperation. The Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi noted that joint output of the FP-5 Flamingo in Europe could become the largest example of NATO countries adopting Ukrainian defense know-how.

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Germany delivers IRIS-T to Ukraine — high-tech system that engages cruise missiles, as Russia continues to strike residential buildings

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, visiting Kyiv last month, said the "technological leaps here in Ukraine are remarkable." Joint ventures are being explored for long-range drones, air defenses, and electronic warfare, he said.

Diehl builds the Iris-T air-defense system, a mainstay of Ukraine's protection against Russian missile attacks. The firm inked a technology deal with Fire Point in April without disclosing details.

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German company that already supplies Ukraine with drones has unveiled Shahed-hunter aircraft with four weapons categories on single airframe

Twice the Tomahawk's range, 200 missiles a month

The ground-launched Flamingo claims over 3,000 km of reach — roughly double the Tomahawk's. The missile has so far played a limited part in Ukraine's long-range campaign, and some reports have questioned its effectiveness. At least two Flamingos, though, struck a military plant in the Russian city of Cheboksary on 10 June, about 900 km from the Ukrainian border — the longest successful known Flamingo strike so far.

Fire Point co-founder and chief designer Denys Shtilierman told the Financial Times in May that the company turns out about 200 Flamingos a month with capacity to spare. 

"We just need orders and money," he said, admitting an engine bottleneck he expected to resolve soon.

Ukraine's Defense Forces set major fuel and petrochemical plants deep inside Russia on fire and hit military targets along the front overnight on 12 June, according to Ukraine's General Staff. Fires broke out at refineries in Tatarstan and a rubber plant in Samara Oblast, while monitoring channels reported strikes in occupied Crimea. The raid forced one Russian city to cancel its Russia Day celebrations.

Two refineries burn in Nizhnekamsk

Units of Ukraine's Defense Forces struck the TANECO and TAIF-NK oil refineries in Nizhnekamsk, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. The General Staff confirmed hits and fires at both plants. TANECO ranks among Russia's largest refineries, with a design capacity of over 16 million tons of oil per year. It produces diesel, aviation fuel, and other petroleum products. The plant lies more than 1,100 km from Ukraine's border.

Russian news Telegram channel Astra found at least three separate fires at TANECO in its OSINT analysis of eyewitness footage. Astra's source said the ELOU AVT-9 primary oil processing unit and the ELOU AVT-8 column were burning. The channel called TANECO one of Russia's most efficient refineries, with a refining depth of 99.6%. Monitoring Telegram channel Supernova+ published footage of two large fires with thick black smoke at the plant. Preliminary data pointed to damage at two primary processing units and a tank farm.

TAIF-NK, the second refinery hit, processes heavy high-sulfur crude and gas condensate at a declared refining depth above 95%, the General Staff noted. Its output runs from mass-market fuel to feedstock for petrochemicals and military needs. 

Russia Day canceled as a petrochemical giant burns

Tatarstan declared a drone danger regime at 3 a.m., and the airports of Kazan and Nizhnekamsk restricted flights. Residents of Nizhnekamsk then reported powerful explosions across the city. Nizhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belyaev stated the city canceled all festivities for Russia Day, the state holiday marked on 12 June.

Monitoring Telegram channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ tracked the night's fires. Monitoring channels also reported a hit on Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNH), one of Europe's largest petrochemical complexes, located in the same city. The SIBUR-owned plant processes feedstock from TANECO and TAIF-NK into synthetic rubbers, plastics, and ethylene, Astra said.

Rubber for Russian missile fuel burns in Tolyatti

Ukrainian forces also hit the Tolyattikauchuk plant in Tolyatti, Samara Oblast, Russia. The General Staff confirmed the strike and a fire at the site. The plant makes synthetic rubbers used, among other things, in producing solid rocket fuel for tactical and ballistic missiles, plus monomers, fractions, and high-octane gasoline additives.

Astra reported that Tolyattikauchuk, part of the Tatneft group, is listed in a closed registry of defense enterprises kept by Russia's Industry and Trade Ministry. Its rubbers go into tires for military vehicles and components for the aviation industry, the channel said. 

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Russia’s oil production falls for sixth straight month as Ukrainian drone strikes hit storage and transport

Tolyatti Mayor Ilya Sukhikh stated that one industrial facility took damage from what he called a drone fall during a massive Ukrainian drone attack. Samara Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said nobody was hurt in the attack on the region.

Poland will keep processing buses leaving Ukraine through the Shehyni-Medyka checkpoint this summer despite a planned 17-month closure for repairs. Vice Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba announced the reversal on Telegram on 11 June.

Lviv Customs had said the day before that traffic from Ukraine to Poland through the crossing would be suspended from 15 June until November 2027. Shehyni-Medyka is the busiest road link between the two countries.

The about-face followed urgent talks between Ukraine's Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories and the Polish Ministry of the Interior and Administration. Warsaw's Polish Embassy in Kyiv has not issued a public comment.

"Bus traffic through the 'Shehyni–Medyka' checkpoint will not be halted during the summer season, even while the repair work is being carried out." — Oleksiy Kuleba, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, 11 June 2026

A border managed under cooling political weather

The bus reversal was, narrowly, a technical fix. However, it landed in a year when Polish-Ukrainian relations had visibly cooled.

President Karol Nawrocki, elected in June 2025 on a "Poland First" platform, vetoed extensions of Ukrainian refugee benefits in August. He signed legislation in February ending the special-status regime that had governed Ukrainian residency since 2022.

Most recently, Nawrocki called for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be stripped of Poland's Order of the White Eagle. The trigger was a Ukrainian Special Operations unit named for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Public sentiment has shifted alongside Nawrocki. Just 48 percent of Poles still back accepting Ukrainian refugees, against 46 percent opposed, according to a January 2026 CBOS survey. That is the lowest figure recorded since Russia's full-scale invasion.

Furthermore, hate crimes against Ukrainians in Poland rose 49 percent between 2023 and 2025, The New Republic reported in April. Critically, Russia's Avanhard military camp near Volgograd remains active. More than 900 Ukrainian children passed through there for two-week shifts in 2026 alone.

Bus diplomacy meets bus politics

Polish haulers and farmers blockaded crossings repeatedly from late 2023 through 2024. They cited competition from Ukrainian carriers and grain imports. Two Ukrainian drivers died waiting in queues during the November 2023 blockade. In July 2025, Kyiv tightened Shehyni-Medyka registrations to scheduled bus routes only, citing summer overload.

A parallel dispute shows how bus traffic itself can become politicized. Earlier this week, Polish sister city Kielce refused to transfer 20-year-old municipal buses to Vinnytsia. Kielce cited a Vinnytsia street named after Stepan Bandera. Vinnytsia faces regular Russian strikes.

By contrast, the Shehyni-Medyka rollback suggests institutional cooperation can still hold even when sentiment frays. Polish construction firm Unibep signed a turnkey contract in October 2025 to modernize the same crossing. EU Entry/Exit System–compatible gates and 40 percent higher passenger throughput are targeted by Q2 2027.

For now, summer passenger traffic continues. Whether the Shehyni-Medyka corridor stays open through the autumn repair phase remains the next test of bilateral patience.

Polish president Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a one-year extension that would have let Ukrainian doctors and other non-EU medics keep working without a B1 Polish certificate. Rzeczpospolita reported the move on 11 June.

The conditional licenses Poland fast-tracked after Russia's full-scale invasion now run on a clock the head of state will not reset.

From 1 May, regional medical chambers began revoking the right to practice from anyone without a certificate.

By 11 June, 441 medics had lost it. Polish chamber spokesman Jakub Kosikowski said at the start of May that 2,321 doctors and 1,014 dentists still lacked the document.

What the veto stops

The Sejm passed the one-year extension on 15 May. The Senate followed on 22 May. Civic Coalition deputy Krzysztof Bojarski had introduced the amendment in committee days before the original 1 May deadline. Poland's Health Ministry backed the push to head off staffing collapse in hospitals already short on physicians.

Nawrocki framed his decision around patient safety.

"Every Pole has the right to expect that they will be able to effectively and without obstacles communicate with their doctor."

The Lower Silesian Medical Chamber in Wrocław has revoked 129 licenses — the most of any region. Warsaw follows with 99, Warmian-Masurian with 52, and Greater Poland with 42.

The simplified pathway through which Ukrainian doctors first gained temporary practice rights expired on 24 October 2024. After a five-year conditional permit runs out, Ukrainian doctors must nostrify their diplomas or sit the Polish Medical Verification Examination.

How the medical lobby got there first

Łukasz Jankowski, head of the Supreme Medical Council (NRL), met Nawrocki at the Presidential Palace on 20 May, between the Sejm and Senate votes.

"Thanks to this veto, patients will be treated by doctors who know Polish," Jankowski told Rzeczpospolita.

The NRL had argued during consultations that the Health Ministry was ignoring the medical community. In Jankowski's telling, the veto answered a delivered request, not a political shock.

A wider rollback

This veto sits inside a year-long pattern. Nawrocki had already vetoed broader refugee assistance in August 2025. He then forced conditional benefits tied to work or schooling. In February, he signed the law folding what remained of special Ukrainian protections into the general foreigners' regime.

Public mood has shifted around him. Polish support for hosting Ukrainian refugees crashed from 94% to 57% over the course of the war. Yet Ukrainian residents contributed roughly $5 billion to Poland's budget in 2024 through taxes and insurance.

The historical row over UPA's 1943–1944 massacres of Poles in Volhynia has pulled the relationship further down. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's May decree naming a Special Operations Forces unit "Heroes of UPA" reignited it. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said on 29 May that "only Moscow benefits from disputes between Ukrainians and Poles."

The veto's clearest cost, however, will not arrive in diplomatic notes. It will show up in shifts at hospitals from Wrocław to Olsztyn that, until last month, had a Ukrainian doctor on duty.

Russia's crude oil production fell in May to its lowest level in a year, with Ukraine's record-setting drone campaign against oil infrastructure playing a major role, Bloomberg reported. The decline, now running for half a year, cuts into the mineral extraction tax — the main channel through which oil fills the federal budget that finances the war, the Russian-language Moscow Times noted.

Output slides for half a year, far below the OPEC+ quota

Russia averaged 9.009 million barrels of crude a day in May, OPEC's monthly report shows. Daily output last peaked in November at 9.38 million barrels and has shrunk every month since, losing roughly 370,000 barrels, the Moscow Times wrote. The May figure sits 690,000 barrels a day short of what the OPEC+ deal obliges Russia to pump, Bloomberg calculated. The data excludes condensate, and April's level was revised slightly lower.

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All three Rosneft Samara refineries now offline or reduced as drones halt Kuibyshevsky operations yesterday

The Ukrainian strikes have been disabling oil storage and transportation capacity. That shortage, combined with underinvestment, reduces the volume of crude Russia extracts. Bloomberg observed that while the latest monthly drop marks a slowdown against previous months, it will likely keep weighing on oil markets. Oil prices stay elevated amid the continuing Middle East conflict, and Russia ranks among the world's three biggest crude producers whose barrels bypass the Strait of Hormuz, shut in practice since the Iran war erupted.

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Russia’s fuel crisis jumps from 15 to 25 regions in five days—plus six occupied Ukrainian areas

A record month of strikes crushes refining

Ukraine sharply intensified its May campaign against Russian oil sites, logging at least 31 strikes on refineries, seaborne export terminals, and pipelines, Bloomberg counted — the highest monthly count since the full-scale invasion, as Kyiv works to cut the Kremlin's income from elevated crude prices. Because most strikes targeted fuel-producing facilities, Russian refining collapsed to its 2009 level in May. So far this month, Russia's refining runs have fallen to a two-decade low, EA Analytics, part of consultancy Energy Aspects, estimates.

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Russian crude reaches the sea through tunnels under a mountain ridge—and Ukraine hit the storage end near Novorossiysk

Exports rise while the budget's tax base shrinks

The gasoline shortage behind the fuel crisis in a number of Russian regions led producers to redirect more crude to export markets. The Baltic and Black Sea ports damaged in the first two months of spring have been repaired. Seaborne crude exports averaged 3.64 million barrels a day over the four weeks ending 31 May, Bloomberg's tanker-tracking data show. That compares with 3.17 million barrels daily over the four-week stretch to 17 April, when Ukrainian forces actively bombed ports and export terminals.

The Moscow Times notes that the export shift allows companies and intermediaries who retain significant sums from sales abroad to raise their incomes. The federal budget that pays for the war, though, is filled above all by the mineral extraction tax, so falling production hits government revenue directly.

Russia is building new military bases and expanding existing ones along its northern border with NATO, according to ISW. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assesses that the construction likely supports future Russian force projection against the alliance. Near-term Russian ground operations remain unlikely, the think tank notes, since most Russian combat power stays committed in Ukraine.

Satellite images show construction from Norway to Kaliningrad

Broadcasters in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, together with a Baltic news portal, published satellite findings of the buildup on 10 June. Russian forces are putting up new facilities and growing old ones near the frontiers of the Nordic and Baltic states. Intelligence officers and senior commanders in Denmark told broadcaster DR the work amounts to preparation for conflict. They see nothing indicating Moscow has actually decided on war, not least because the bulk of its army remains tied down in Ukraine.

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“We don’t think all of this is just for demonstration”: Russia is constructing infrastructure with potential capacity up to 115,000 personnel on NATO’s doorstep

Finland braces for 80,000 Russian troops at its border

Marko Eklund, a former Finnish intelligence officer, told DR that the Russian command plans to deploy about 115,000 troops at the northern NATO border. That deployment would come after the war in Ukraine ends. Construction has begun on a new Russian base at Novaya Vilza, outside Petrozavodsk in the Republic of Karelia. The site sits roughly 190 kilometers from Finland and will hold 4,000 to 6,000 personnel. Russia began renovating an abandoned Soviet-era garrison in Petrozavodsk earlier this year. Finland's army chief, Pasi Välimäki, expects Russia to put 80,000 soldiers on the shared border, he told Swedish broadcaster SVT.

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ISW: Estonia warns of Russia’s military buildup beyond war in Ukraine

A corps command waits in Luga as Karelia bases rise

A source covering the Russian Northern Grouping of Forces claimed Russia's command is moving parts of the 44th Army Corps, a Leningrad Military District formation, to the Republic of Karelia. Only the command post stays behind for now. Those command-post elements currently sit in Luga, Leningrad Oblast, ready to shift to Petrozavodsk once Russia finishes the bases, the source claimed.

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Russia builds up military presence near Finland’s border – WSJ

A Kremlin-affiliated Russian milblogger claimed on 11 June that crews are upgrading at least 19 barracks, along with support and storage buildings, at Pechenga on the Kola Peninsula in Murmansk Oblast. The site lies about 10 kilometers from the Norwegian border. The milblogger also claimed Baltiysk in Kaliningrad Oblast is getting a bigger naval infantry footprint, more armor, and additional landing craft.

ISW: bases serve post-war force projection

"Russia is establishing these bases to support potential future military actions against NATO, though such ground operations remain unlikely, as most of Russia's combat power is participating in operations in Ukraine," ISW says.

Once the shooting in Ukraine stops, the finished bases would shorten Russia's timeline for massing troops at NATO's frontier, ISW assesses. That leaves NATO needing the readiness to hold off — and, failing that, beat back — a Russian threat at its borders soon after combat in Ukraine stops, in ISW's assessment.

Polish volunteers have raised more than 145,000 zloty (~$39,500) since 11 June to buy 15 decommissioned Solaris vehicles from Kielce. They plan to ship the Vinnytsia buses to Ukraine themselves, as shown on the Polish crowdfunding platform Zrzutka.pl on 12 June.

Their 500,000-zloty ($136 235) goal would buy the 17-year-old fleet at scrap value. The drive began after Polish right-wing councilors in Kielce sank a free transfer of the same Vinnytsia buses. Vinnytsia's tram-and-trolleybus grid runs on electricity. Whenever Russian strikes knock out the national power network, the city of roughly 360,000 freezes in place.

A foundation steps in where a city council stepped back

Fundacja Sikorki na Ukrainie is the Polish humanitarian group behind the drive. Since February 2022, it has shipped roughly 10 million zloty ($2.7 million) of non-weapon equipment to Ukrainian frontline units. Its tally includes 400 drones, 200 night-vision and thermal devices, 30 off-road vehicles, and 200 pallets of medical supplies. Founder Tomek Sikora worked with refugee shelters in Vinnytsia in early 2022. He later pivoted the foundation toward combat brigades near Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

The fundraiser is titled "Buses for Vinnytsia. Politicians block, we keep going." It tripled overnight. Donors pushed the running total from 57,000 zloty on the evening of 11 June to past 145,000 by dawn the next day.

"500,000 zlotys is a trifle for the state budget. For local politicians, the noise around aid is a free chance to score points in polls," the foundation wrote on Zrzutka.pl.

For the activists, the cost was not symbolic but practical.

"For us, it is the real price of proving that real solidarity still exists, and we will not let politicking block hard logistics."—Fundacja Sikorki na Ukrainie

If the Kielce purchase falls through, organizers will redirect the funds to protecting Ukrainian civilians from Russian air attacks. The model echoes a 2022 Polish citizen crowdfunding effort that bought three Mi-2 helicopters for Ukraine's military intelligence. In February 2026, a Slovak fundraiser raised one million euros in two weeks as Bratislava's government cooled on Kyiv.

How a 2022 street renaming became a 2026 sister-city flashpoint

Vinnytsia and Kielce have been sister cities since the Soviet period. The municipal donation collapsed after Law and Justice (PiS) councilors Maciej Jakubczyk and Marcin Stempniewski launched a media campaign against it. They cited Vinnytsia's 2022 renaming of a street to honor Stepan Bandera. Bandera led the wartime Ukrainian nationalist movement whose forces are blamed for the 1943-1944 ethnic cleansing of Poles in Volhynia. Stempniewski called the donation incomprehensible.

"Every time our outstretched hand to help a neighbor is hit by a stick in the form of honoring war criminals," he said, Censor.NET reported.

Vinnytsia mayor Serhii Morhunov withdrew the request on 10 June. PiS councilors then tabled a resolution demanding the city rescind the Bandera renaming. The motion failed at the 11 June council session. Twelve PiS members voted in favor, and two independents abstained. But 11 councilors from Prime Minister Donald Tusk's Civic Platform walked out. That left the resolution one vote short of the 13 needed. Stempniewski plans to resubmit it on 25 June.

The row sits inside a broader bilateral memory dispute. It flared in May after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named a Ukrainian Armed Forces unit "Heroes of the UPA." Kielce mayor Agata Wojda has accused her city's PiS faction of "ordinary human meanness." Meanwhile, the European Commission has said bilateral disputes should not derail Ukraine's EU accession path. Activists hope the Vinnytsia buses will leave for Ukraine before the Kielce fleet is scrapped.

Exclusives

Europe can legally quit Russian LNG today. It keeps choosing not to.. Since October, every long-term buyer has had legal cover to walk away from Russian LNG. Only Germany has even asked.

Ukraine's drone commander says his branch killed or wounded 102,000 Russians in 12 months. It started with a grenade taped to drone that filmed weddings. Robert "Madiar" Brovdi, the art-collecting ex-grain trader who runs Ukraine's drone branch, said his units account for every third Russian falling on the battlefield.

ISW: Russia gains ground in Kostiantynivka but Fortress Belt stays out of reach. Russia's strategy of stacking armies on one Donetsk Oblast city is producing slow infiltration, not the operational breakthrough Moscow needs to crack the fortified chain, ISW says.

Ukraine's drones now have Russian convoys riding out with four gun trucks and a prayer. Until last month the trucks rolled out unarmed—now 71% of them have vanished from the M-14 entirely.

As UGV adoption soars, Ukraine must write the playbook for saving soldiers' lives. Number of units using UGVs doubled from 117 to 230 in six months

Military

Ukrainian drones knocking out the northwestern entrance to Crimea: four bridges targeted in one night. The occupation authorities reported the attacks on four bridges in the area of Armiansk.

Afipsky oil refinery burns again as Ukrainian drones return to Krasnodar Krai. Ukrainian drones hit the Afipsky refinery for the third time in 2026, with the facility producing fuel supplied to the Russian armed forces.

All three Rosneft Samara refineries now offline or reduced as drones halt Kuibyshevsky operations yesterday. All three plants in Rosneft's Samara refining hub are now affected by Ukrainian strikes, with Kuibyshev's two primary units damaged on 10 June.

Russia is building up forces in Belarus right next to Ukraine's NATO supply corridor. Ukraine just started covering roads. Volyn Oblast will install anti-drone nets on sections of roads near the border with Belarus, acting head of the Volyn Oblast, Military Administration Roman Romaniuk announced.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine's drone output grew 12.7% month-on-month, but chief commander says don't relax. Ukraine maintains a 1.5-to-1 FPV drone advantage over Russia, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi confirmed at the monthly meeting.

German company that already supplies Ukraine with drones has unveiled Shahed-hunter aircraft with four weapons categories on single airframe. The renders presented in Germany suggest the Pulse P19 has obvious application as Ukrainian air defense against Russian Shahed strikes.

Strip out this one component and Russia's drones fly blind. Ukraine found factory where it is made. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strike.

Russia's fuel crisis jumps from 15 to 25 regions in five days—plus six occupied Ukrainian areas. The Russian Energy Ministry created a task force on 8 June to handle the gasoline shortage amid "growing enemy air attacks," but the crisis continued spreading anyway.

"Fourth house. Blue doors": Four years ago three Ukrainians changed global warfare forever (VIDEO). Four years later, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS) has struck nearly $40 billion worth of Russian targets.

International

US sanctions 13 Iran-Belarus-China entities supplying Iran's IRGC. That's three of four "Axis of Upheaval" states. The same Iran-Belarus-China network is the operational ecosystem supplying Russia's drone war on Ukraine.

"Heroes of UPA" unit will keep its name, Budanov's office says despite Polish pressure. Polish media reported Kyiv was weighing a compromise to narrow the honor to UPA fighters who battled only the Soviet Union.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia trained 900 more Ukrainian children at Volgograd — a camp that Britain already sanctioned in 2024.

Political and legal developments

Kremlin enacts law to grab homes and bank accounts of its exiled critics. A formal charge alone can now trigger seizure of property worth many times the underlying fine, with no judge required to approve it.

15 tons of diesel, $22,500 in damages: Ukraine charges eight in Poltava military fuel-theft scheme. The defendants face up to 15 years imprisonment.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Ukraine maintains a 1.5-to-1 FPV drone advantage over Russia, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi confirmed at the monthly meeting on unmanned systems development. In May 2026, Ukrainian unmanned systems hit nearly 180,000 confirmed enemy targets, which is 12.7% more than in April, the General Staff reports.

Syrskyi also disclosed that Ukrainian drone operators have eliminated 12,500 more Russian troops than Russia could recruit into its own unmanned systems units since the start of the year. 

Ukrainian operators neutralized approximately 4,000 Shahed-type strike drones in May (27% more than April) and hit nearly 10,000 Russian drone-operator positions, Syrskyi said. 

May 2026 metrics: 10,000 operator positions hit

Ukrainian forces additionally hit nearly 10,000 Russian drone operator positions in May. The number represents a doctrinal shift toward degrading Russian operator capability rather than just intercepting Russian platforms in flight.

Striking the operator unit prevents Russian forces from launching additional drones from that position.

The combined month-over-month growth with 12.7% across targets 27% across Shahed neutralization suggests the Ukrainian operational tempo continues to accelerate.

Middle Strike program: 414 headquarters and command posts hit

The Middle Strike program conducted nearly 2,000 strikes in May 2026. Ukraine utilizes this naming for strikes against Russian operational-tactical depth targets. 

Among the targets were 414 headquarters, command posts, troop concentration areas, and other important Russian objects. Syrskyi credited the establishment of coordination centers at the corps level with improving the effectiveness of these strikes.

The coordination centers improve inter-unit cooperation, allowing for more coordinated targeting of high-value Russian operational nodes. 

Ground robotic systems: supply problems persist

Ukrainian ground robotic systems conducted over 12,500 missions in May 2026, working on the most dangerous frontline sections. Their tasks included delivering ammunition and food, evacuating wounded, and providing other support functions.

Syrskyi noted that the potential of ground robotic systems is significantly greater than current deployment levels. Problems with the supply and procurement of these systems have arisen since the start of the year. 

Syrskyi cautions against complacency

Russia recruited only 14,500 contract personnel into its unmanned systems units since the start of 2026, which is approximately one-fifth of Russia's planned figure for the period. This recruitment shortfall is significant because Ukrainian drone operators eliminated approximately 12,500 more Russian troops than Russia recruited into its drone units during the same period.

Syrskyi emphasized that the achieved results should not cause Ukrainian forces to relax. Russia is actively developing its own unmanned capabilities, adopting Ukrainian experience, and improving its solutions.

Six Ukrainian servicemembers and two civilians have been charged in a fuel-theft scheme that diverted over 15 tons of diesel fuel from a military unit in 2025, the Special Prosecutor's Office for Defense Sector of the Central Region announces. The scheme caused damages of over $22,500 to the military unit, whose fuel was destined for Ukrainian Defense Forces operations.

The Poltava fuel-theft prosecution is one of several Ukrainian military corruption cases prosecuted in early June 2026.

How did scheme work? 

The scheme was organized by a technician of the Poltava-area military unit, prosecutors said.

The technician engaged refueling drivers with direct access to fuel during transport, along with civilians who acted as buyers and resellers of the stolen diesel. During loading operations, drivers manipulated the measuring sticks and exploited specific technical features of fuel tanker vehicles so that part of the diesel did not appear in official accounting.

They also artificially created fuel surpluses by reducing the actual consumption recorded during transport and entering false data into trip sheets, listing fuel as consumed when it was not.

The "surplus" fuel was poured into canisters and hidden in forest strips near the military unit. The technician then transported the stolen fuel to private buildings, where he stored and sold it to civilians. Proceeds were divided among scheme participants.

Ukraine's defense anti-corruption apparatus continues prosecution

Ukraine's defense-sector anti-corruption apparatus has continued to actively investigate and prosecute internal theft cases during the war. The DBR, Special Prosecutor's Office for Defense Sector, and SBU have pursued cases ranging from procurement fraud at the Defense Ministry level to FPV-drone theft from frontline supply caches to organized fuel-theft schemes like the Poltava case.

Medic stole 16 FPV from firm that entered $1.1 billion Pentagon competition and hid them for four months. Ukraine arrested him when he tried to sell them for 19% of their value

In 2026, Brussels has reason to celebrate. Russia's share of EU gas imports has fallen from 45% to 12%. Russian coal has virtually disappeared. Russian oil is down to 2% of the European market. Officials call it one of the fastest energy transformations in modern European history.

But Russian LNG is still flowing. The EU paid Russia €7.2 billion for it in 2025—enough to fund nearly three times Russia's 2024–2025 Iskander-M ballistic missile contract.

As President von der Leyen stated this week, EU sanctions are aimed at weakening the economic foundations of Russia's war effort. For Ukrainians, this reality is painfully tangible: every euro of revenues from Russian fossil fuel exports is transformed into drones and missiles that strike our cities and civilians.

Razom We Stand's new analytical paper, Europe's Break from Russian Fossil Fuels, reveals the gap inside the celebration. Pipeline volumes collapsed, yet the LNG channel never closed. In 2025, the EU imported around 20 bcm of Russian liquefied natural gas, and imports rose. By the first quarter of 2026, Europe was receiving 97% of exports from Russia's Arctic Yamal LNG project.

Russia is being paid by Europe's choice, not contract necessity, until 2027

The EU's 19th sanctions package, adopted in October 2025, set 1 January 2027 as the legal end of Russian LNG imports under long-term contracts. The same package gave EU buyers force majeure cover to exit early.

Yet, only after four years of Russia's invasion did the German government ask SEFE, which holds a 2.9 million-tonne-per-year contract originally running to 2040, to consider invoking the legal exit available to it. Four years of civilians killed daily by Russian missiles and drones, and four years of Ukrainian soldiers holding off the world's #2 army funded by the very money earned by selling LNG to Europe.

SEFE is, as of recent reporting, still weighing the costs. The flow continues.

Specific European companies anchor this trade. France's TotalEnergies holds a 20% equity stake in Yamal LNG and the largest single offtake contract. Germany's SEFE and Spain's Naturgy hold long-term offtake contracts. Belgium's Fluxys operatewhy s the Zeebrugge terminal that handles a significant share of trans-shipment. The Yamal ice-class tankers that move the cargo are operated by Seapeak Maritime Glasgow in the UK and Dynagas in Greece.

France led EU buyers in 2025—87 ships delivering 6.3 million tonnes through Dunkirk and Montoir, worth €3.16 billion to Russia.

The TotalEnergies CEO has been candid about the philosophy. Asked about the ethics of profiting from Russian LNG amid sanctions on Russia, Patrick Pouyanné told reporters: "This is not Russian money—it's a European contract."

In February 2026, after the 20th sanctions package gave TotalEnergies additional legal protections, Pouyanné announced the contract might be terminated earlier than its 2041 end. The 20% equity stake in Yamal LNG isn't part of that timeline.

Sanctions taken hostage to restore flow of Russian oil

The oil channel tells a similar story. The April 2026 resolution of the Druzhba crisis allowed the 20th EU sanctions package and the €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine to pass—but the resolution restored Russian crude flows to Hungary and Slovakia. Ukraine, under pressure to unlock both, repaired the pipeline that Russia had struck at Brody in January and resumed transit of Russian oil through its territory.

The two countries continue importing through Druzhba's southern leg under exemptions with no defined end date. Hungary and Slovakia imported a combined 8.7 million tonnes of Russian oil in 2024—more than before the full-scale invasion.

Croatia's Adria pipeline (JANAF) can cover their oil needs. The reason it doesn't: Hungarian state oil company MOL reports approximately 30% additional profit from arbitraging Russian crude prices.

The problem is no longer willingness. The April hostage demonstrated how Kremlin-aligned EU governments can use Russian fuel exemptions as leverage on sanctions and aid. The pattern can repeat anywhere those exemptions remain.

Russia cut its own pipeline gas exports to the EU

Even the pipeline gas drop owes more to Russia than to Europe. Razom's analysis credits Russia's own export cuts—driven by Gazprom's pivot to Asian markets and the loss of the Nord Stream pipelines—as the primary cause of the collapse from 45% to 12%. Brussels accepted the result and took credit.

The diversification story is also less than it appears.

As Russian pipeline gas declined, the EU sharply increased LNG purchases—primarily from the United States. American LNG accounted for around 28% of Europe's total gas imports in 2026 and nearly 60% of all LNG consumed in Europe.

Total LNG import capacity now stands at approximately 250 bcm per year—more than double current LNG imports. This shift now operates under the political conditions of a US administration that has explicitly used European LNG dependency as a trade and diplomatic lever. Europe has traded Kremlin leverage for White House leverage.

Closing the actual remaining channel requires enforcing what the 19th sanctions package set in October 2025—and extending it.

The package made Russian LNG imports under long-term contracts legally void from 1 January 2027 and gave EU buyers force majeure cover to exit early. EU buyers should invoke that cover now, not next year. Germany waiting until November 2025 to press SEFE is the model failure to avoid.

The 2027 deadline should also move forward. Each month of activation delay means more euros flowing to Moscow while Ukraine fights weapons funded by that revenue.

Coordinated G7 sanctions across the entire Russian LNG value chain—Novatek, Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG 2, the affiliated entities and executives, the transshipment operators, the tanker operators, the insurers. The UK has banned shipping services. The EU has not.

EU sanctions on the European companies sustaining the trade: TotalEnergies, SEFE, Naturgy, Fluxys, Seapeak Maritime Glasgow, Dynagas. And separate treatment for equity stakes—TotalEnergies plans to keep its 20% in Yamal LNG even after the contract ends. The structure outlasts the contracts.

For pipeline oil—a firm deadline on the southern Druzhba exemption. For pipeline gas—termination of the Hungary–Gazprom long-term contract for 4.5 bcm annually delivered via TurkStream, replacement with non-Russian suppliers such as Romania's forthcoming Neptun Deep project, and strengthened market monitoring to prevent circumvention through third countries.

Why is the EU moving so slowly?

The ultimate reason is that Europe still perceives the phase-out of Russian fossil fuels primarily as an economic challenge, while Ukraine experiences it as a matter of security and survival. Therefore, the business interests and lobbies of oil and gas giants and their long-term contracts with Russia get priority over cutting off Russia’s war revenue immediately and completely and establishing the continent’s energy independence.

The deeper truth behind all of this is one Russia's war has made unmissable. Fossil fuel dependence creates leverage for whoever controls the supply. Replacing the Kremlin with Doha or Washington reduces immediate risk but preserves the structure. The only path that ends the leverage is reducing demand—through renewables, electrification, heat pumps, and grids.

The EU has already proven this works. Since 2022, gas consumption has fallen 15–18%, driven not by new LNG terminals but by efficiency and renewables. Wind and solar rose from 17% to 29% of the electricity mix. Solar capacity nearly tripled, from 120 GW to 338 GW.

That is the foundation. Finishing the job means matching the speed of demand reduction with the speed at which Brussels closes the LNG channel still funding Russia's war.

Europe has nearly broken from Russian fossil fuels. The "almost" means contracts still active until 2027, equity stakes that outlast them, named companies still buying, money still flowing to Moscow. Closing that gap—without falling into the next dependency—is the work left.

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The lobbying to bring back Russian gas is back. Faster electrification is the answer

Kateryna Kontsur

Kateryna Kontsur is an energy policy expert at Razom We Stand with over 20 years of experience in regulatory policy, EU energy law, and renewable energy systems. She advocates for Ukraine’s energy independence and supply diversification and holds advanced project management and financial analysis degrees.

Editor's note. The opinions expressed in our Opinion section belong to their authors. Euromaidan Press' editorial team may or may not share them.

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More than 900 Ukrainian children completed military training at a Volgograd camp, the resistance movement Yellow Ribbon reported on 11 June. The two-week shift drew teenagers from occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts.

The session, Yellow Ribbon argued, is evidence of "systemic policy" rather than isolated cases. The documentary record supports that framing. Russia's Warrior Center is a creation of Vladimir Putin's 2022 decree. It ran 1,290 Ukrainian children through the same Avangard base in 2024 alone, a Kyiv Independent investigation found. Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab has separately mapped 210 facilities across Russia and occupied Ukraine that hold or militarize children.

Two weeks of drills, drones, and indoctrination

The "Time of Young Heroes" session at the Avangard defense base ran for two weeks. Teenagers aged 14 to 17 trained in basic military preparation, drone operations, tactical medicine, and physical drills. The program also featured meetings with Russian war veterans and events built around loyalty to the Russian army, Yellow Ribbon said.

"The scale of such programs is striking. We are no longer talking about isolated cases, but about systemic policy." — Yellow Ribbon resistance movement, 11 June 2026

Avangard operates as a network of military-patriotic centers under Russia's Defense Ministry. The United Kingdom sanctioned the camp in November 2024 for deporting and indoctrinating Ukrainian children. At the same site, Ukrainian teenagers practice trench-digging, mine clearance, and weapons handling. The Kyiv Independent first documented that training pipeline in October. Ukrinform also reported the Yellow Ribbon findings the same day.

From occupied schools to the Volgograd pipeline

The 900 teenagers arrived at Volgograd from a re-education infrastructure built across the occupied territories. Schools in the occupied Donbas have made military training a mandatory subject from fifth grade onward. Occupation authorities enroll children as young as six in the Yunarmiya youth army for drills and pro-Kremlin lessons.

More than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since 24 February 2022, Yale researchers estimate. Up to 1.6 million more remain under Russian occupation. Ukraine has returned just over 2,000 through its Bring Kids Back UA initiative.

In March 2026, Yale's lab tied Russian energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft to the camps. The two firms helped transfer at least 2,158 Ukrainian children across Russia, the report found.

Three months earlier, a Ukrainian rights lawyer told the US Senate of further escalation. Russia had sent teenagers to North Korea's Songdowon International Children's Camp—9,000 kilometers from home.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. Both face charges for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. The court classified the practice as a war crime.

Major Robert "Madiar" Brovdi marked Ukraine's first official Day of Unmanned Systems Forces on 11 June 2026 with a single number. His drone branch claims 102,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded over twelve months, alongside 360,000 enemy targets hit and 1.7 million combat sorties flown, the commander said in a Telegram address.

The number translates four years of homemade weaponry into industrial output. By Brovdi's own reckoning, drones from his Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS) now account for one in every three Russian soldiers falling on the battlefield, and at a unit cost he prices in hundreds of dollars apiece.

"We exchange the plastic and metal of a drone worth a few hundred dollars for the carcass of an occupier. And that is the best exchange rate in the world," Brovdi said. 

"Birds changed both plan and course"

Brovdi narrated the four-year arc of Ukrainian drone warfare in a single Telegram thread. In 2022, he said, the starting slogan was "artillery, shovel, drone" to locate, correct, hide. Then, in spring 2022, he taped a grenade to a commercial quadcopter and pushed video of the drop to social media.

"No weapon in human history has evolved so quickly. A wedding drone, no joke, performed well at the front, fundamentally and forever changing world doctrine," he revealed. 

The unit he founded that month — Madiar's Birds — has since grown from platoon to brigade to a separate branch of the armed forces. The 414th brigade tripled in size in late 2024. On 3 June 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made Brovdi commander of the entire SBS, replacing Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi.

Four targets, 2,000 kilometers deep

Madiar listed four target priorities for the year ahead: enemy manpower, sources of war financing, weapons production, and Russian air defense. The branch's reach now extends from frontline FPV strikes to deep-strike platforms confirmed beyond 1,700 kilometers inside Russia.

"The birds changed both the plan and the course," Madiar said. 

Art-collecting commander

Russian state TV calls him a "terrorist." A Russian court sentenced him in absentia to life in prison in March 2026 on charges of organizing a terrorist attack. Russian prosecutors have filed 46 counts against him in total.

The Center for European Policy Analysis calls him "a bearded talisman of Ukraine's defense" — a "swashbuckling, plain-spoken" commander whose journey ran from "besuited grain trader" to the top of the world's first dedicated drone branch.

Madiar's biography reads like Carpathian Tony Stark's: an ethnic Hungarian from Uzhhorod who ran one of Ukraine's largest grain traders, served on the Zakarpattia Regional Council from 2010 to 2015, and funded contemporary Ukrainian art through his BrovdiArt Foundation before walking into a recruitment office at the start of the full-scale war.

He closed his anniversary speech in his usual register: "And now to work, ladies and gentlemen, at all available depths, across all the hated enemy. The way we know how, with what we have, where we are."

Kyiv has no intention of renaming the "Heroes of UPA" Special Operations Forces unit despite more than two weeks of escalating Polish pressure, a source close to the head of the Office of the President, Kyrylo Budanov, told LIGA.net on 11 June.

The denial closes the most public off-ramp that has been floated since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Decree 440/2026 on 26 May. The Polish outlet Wirtualna Polska, citing its own sources, reported that during Budanov's 5–6 June visit to Warsaw, Ukrainian representatives offered a compromise that would narrow the honor to UPA members who fought only the Soviet Union—with the final call resting with Zelenskyy. "The information the Polish press conveyed does not correspond to reality," the source said.

Two weeks, four Polish escalations

Zelenskyy's decree honored the Separate Center for Special Operations "Pivnich" of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces. Within 72 hours, President Karol Nawrocki moved to strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest distinction, which had been conferred on him by then-president Andrzej Duda in April 2023. On 8 June, the order's Chapter delivered its opinion; Nawrocki's spokesman, Rafał Leśkiewicz, said the president would decide "in due time".

On 1 June, former Polish ambassador Bartosz Cichocki—who stayed in Kyiv through Russia's 2022 invasion—returned his Ukrainian Order of Merit. A day later, Sejm Deputy Speaker Krzysztof Bosak called for blocking Ukraine's EU accession until Kyiv "moves away from the cult of criminals." Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha replied on 3 June that the unit's name was the choice of Ukrainian soldiers who, "at the cost of their health and often their lives," hold the front line against Russia's war on Ukraine.

"The information the Polish press conveyed does not correspond to reality." —Source close to Budanov, LIGA.net, 11 June

A cool reception in Warsaw

The Warsaw visit, initiated by Kyiv, did not produce a public breakthrough. Budanov, accompanied by first deputy Serhii Kyslytsia and deputy Iryna Vereshchuk, met Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Bureau of International Policy chief Marcin Przydacz, and Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski declined to meet the Ukrainian delegation.

Kosiniak-Kamysz posted afterward that "the memory of the victims of Volhynia is not up for negotiation." Prime Minister Donald Tusk added that Ukraine had "brought this problem upon itself" and should resolve it.

Kielce councilors target Vinnytsia's Bandera street

Even as Kyiv held the line, the dispute spread into sister-city relations. On 10 June, the Law and Justice (PiS) faction of the Kielce city council sent a resolution to council chair Maciej Jakubczyk calling on Vinnytsia mayor Serhii Morhunov to rename the city's Stepan Bandera street. The councilors invoked the 70-year Kielce–Vinnytsia partnership and described the street name as "a stain" linked to "mass atrocities against the defenseless civilian population".

A day earlier, Vinnytsia had withdrawn a request for 15 decommissioned Kielce buses after Jakubczyk and PiS councilor Marcin Stępniewski opposed the donation over the same street.

Ukrainian drones forced Rosneft's Kuybyshevsky oil refinery in Samara Oblast, Russia, to halt oil processing on 10 June, Reuters reported. The strike puts all three plants in the Rosneft Samara refining hub out of full operation at the same time.

Reuters confirms processing halt at both primary units

Reuters cited two industry sources to confirm that processing stopped at both AVT-4 and AVT-5 after the strike. Each unit has a nominal processing capacity of about 73,000 barrels of crude oil (10,000 metric tons) per day. The hits caused damage and subsequent fires at both. 

Samara Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev claimed a massive overnight drone attack injured three people and caused "damage to several industrial facilities." 

An earlier report on 10 June described fires at the Kuybyshevsky refinery after the strike.

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Fire reported at Kuibyshev oil refinery in Russia’s Samara after drone strike

Plant size and output

Kuybyshevsky's 2024 crude oil throughput was 4.7 million tons, equal to 94,400 barrels a day, Reuters reported. That year's output included 0.8 million tons of gasoline, 1.4 million tons of diesel, and 1.3 million tons of fuel oil. Nominal capacity stands at 7 million tons per year. The plant is one of the largest oil refining facilities in the Volga region. It also supplies fuel for the Russian army.

The Kuybyshevsky plant was also previously hit in January 2026, August 2025, and in March 2024. The earlier strikes damaged equipment and forced production cycles to stop.

Same night: Cheboksary defense plant struck

The same night, Ukrainian forces also struck the VNIIR-Progress plant in Cheboksary, Chuvashia, which was previously hit on 5 May. The factory makes "Kometa" antennas that protect Russian drones from electronic warfare. It also makes satellite receivers for GLONASS, GPS, and Galileo systems. Ukraine's General Staff said such modules are used in Shahed-type drones, Iskander and Kalibr missiles, and aerial bombs.

Meanwhile, today saw a strike on the Afipsky refinery in Krasnodar Krai. 

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Afipsky oil refinery burns again as Ukrainian drones return to Krasnodar Krai

By May 2026, Ukrainian drones had taken six of ten Russian refineries hit during that month offline. Russian media counted 24 of Russia's 33 largest refineries struck since 2022. Only the Omsk and Angarsk plants east of the Urals remain untouched so far.

Russia's gasoline crisis has spread to 25 of its own regions and six occupied Ukrainian ones, the Russian-language Moscow Times reported on 10 June. Six days earlier, the count stood at 15. Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries hit a wartime monthly record in May 2026, dropping Russian refining loading well below the start of the year.

From 15 regions to 25 in under a week

The Russian Telegram channel 7×7 counted at least 25 Russian regions facing gasoline shortages and supply disruptions as of 10 June. Less than a week earlier, on 4 June, the number stood at 15. Restrictions also apply across six Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions: Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Bloomberg counted 38 Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries from January through May 2026. May alone saw 16 — the highest monthly figure of the war. According to OilX, Russian refinery loading has dropped 14% since the start of the year and stays roughly 20% below pre-war levels.

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Afipsky oil refinery burns again as Ukrainian drones return to Krasnodar Krai

Regional officials have responded unevenly. The acting governor of Belgorod Oblast, Alexander Shuvaev, acknowledged the shortage. Krasnodar Krai governor Veniamin Kondratyev called the situation "artificial hype." Residents publicly mocked the claim under his Telegram post, which was republished on a local channel. Gas stations in Krasnodar Krai have begun closing due to a shortage.

Fuel prices have spiked in occupied Crimea. On 10 June, AI-92 cost about $1.14 per liter, against $0.96 in Moscow. AI-95 traded near $1.25, up from $1.04 in the Russian capital. Resellers were offering fuel at $1.81-$2.08 per liter — about 50% above official Crimean prices.

On 8 June, Russia's Energy Ministry announced the creation of a task force to manage the fuel crisis, citing "growing enemy air attacks."

Occupied Sevastopol cancels fuel coupons after tankers fail to arrive

Sevastopol's Russian-installed governor said on 10 June that planned distribution of rationed petrol had been delayed, Reuters wrote on 11 June. Mikhail Razvozhayev claimed oil tanker trucks could not bring fuel into the city, following recent Ukrainian strikes on supply routes. Crimea, occupied by Russia in 2014, introduced fuel rationing last month due to shortages on the peninsula.

"Unfortunately, oil tanker trucks were unable to come to the city tonight," Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram. 

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Ukrainian drones knocking out the northwestern entrance to Crimea: four bridges targeted in one night

He said priority for refueling on 11 June would go to public transport, utilities, emergency vehicles, and government vehicles.

"I am addressing everyone: there is no point in lining up at... the gas stations tomorrow," he added late on 10 June. 

Existing rationing coupons would be canceled and new ones issued today.

Razvozhayev later claimed over two dozen Ukrainian drones were downed in the early hours of Thursday in a fresh attack on Sevastopol. The city is Crimea's second-largest and home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

On the same day, a major drone attack hit Russia's Volga region of Samara, more than 900 km from the front line, forcing state-owned oil giant Rosneft to halt processing at its Kuibyshevsky refinery.

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All three Rosneft Samara refineries now offline or reduced as drones halt Kuibyshevsky operations yesterday

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday evening that Ukraine’s recently launched mid-range strike campaign against Russian logistics, including large-scale strikes on supply and fuel trucks, had proved its worth.

"In recent months, we are especially grateful for the mid-strikes: Russian military logistics throughout the entire depth of the temporarily occupied territory are now within reach of Ukrainian drones," he said. "Our impact reaches Russia’s border regions as well. The enemy feels it, and we will continue to expand it."

Ukrainian drones struck four vehicular bridges at Crimea's northwestern entrance overnight on 11 June 2026, quisling official Vladimir Saldo claimed. The strikes are part of Ukraine's most recent mid-range strike push—now at its fourth day—reaching every road corridor between Crimea and mainland Ukraine. The same night, drone attacks also rolled across Sevastopol, Bakhchysarai, Saky, and other Crimean sites.

Four bridges damaged at the Armiansk isthmus

Saldo, the Russian-installed head of occupied Kherson Oblast, named the four targets on his Telegram. They include the automobile bridge in the Perekop-Armiansk area and a bridge near Stavky, Kherson Oblast. Two more bridges near Myrne and Preobrazhenka span the North Crimean Canal. Saldo stated all four spans sustained damage.

Three Crimean northern choke points hit in four days

Ukraine struck the Chonhar bridge on 7 and 9 June, closing Russia's main road link to occupied Crimea, yet the Russians reportedly installed a pontoon bridge next to the severely damaged crossing. On 10 June, Ukrainian drones hit the bridge from Henichesk to Arabat Spit. With both routes fully or partially shut, Russia had rerouted traffic through Armiansk and Perekop — the very corridor struck overnight. DeepState analysts noted that Ukrainian strikes on the bridges are an important part of the blockade of occupied southern Ukraine.

Not only an entrance, but also targets across the peninsula

Russia's occupation governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, claimed 32 drones were shot down over Sevastopol between 22:00 and midnight. He claimed the drones fell near Sevastopol Bay, Cape Fiolent, and Balaklava. The city declared two air alerts during the night and the morning.

Monitoring Telegram channel Krymsky Veter reported machine-gun fire in Pishchane at 21:40 and in Andriivka shortly after, citing subscribers. 

"At 21:40 a machine gun started firing in Pishchane, at 21:48 a machine gun started in Andriivka, after which an anti-aircraft gun fired a couple of bursts," the channel wrote. 

Detonations followed near Cape Fiolent, in Sevastopol, and later in Bakhchysarai. By morning, Krymsky Veter reported explosions and shooting in Saky.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed the destruction of 330 drones over Russia and the occupied territories in the same overnight period.

Update

The First Assault Brigade shared the footage of the strikes: