#kupiansk-recapture

#kupiansk-recapture

What many in the West perceived as a strategic blunder is increasingly seen in Moscow as a costly but necessary and ultimately successful gamble. As the all-out war in Ukraine enters its fifth year, Russian political elites remain convinced that their leader, Vladimir Putin, did not make a grave error by launching it in February 2022. Instead, they are looking back with a sense of achievement, and they have good reason to believe that the war is ending on their terms, perhaps even soon.

Ukrainian special forces have struck deep into Russian-controlled territory, targeting ammo depots, logistics hubs, and command posts, the SBU said yesterday. The Alpha Special Operations Center carried out precision raids on key enemy military infrastructure, crippling the invaders' ability to manage troops, resupply, and plan new attacks. "These strikes hit the enemy where it hurts most," the SBU said on Telegram. "We are disrupting their operations and slowing down their war machine."

At least four out of every five successful Ukrainian strikes against Russia's forces are being carried out by drones, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday. The new figure represents one of the highest official estimates of the involvement of drones in Ukraine's battlefield operations. In the spring of 2025, Ukrainian officials had said that roughly 70% of Russian casualties were inflicted by drones.

There was a certain amount of awareness, there was kind of a frustration with the missions that we were being called on to carry out, the people flying the missions, they knew that we were kind of wasting drones. For militaries that have the luxury of time and maybe the luxury of money, I think moving into sort of something a little bit more sophisticated makes more sense.