Exclusive

One year of Ukrainian arms exports, and industry has questions: how much army gained, where Berlin office is, who joins joint ventures. Ukraine promised to sell surplus weapons abroad 12 months ago. Its arms makers now ask why a fee of up to 30% still blocks the deals.

Starlink helped Ukraine pull off Operation Vivaldi. Now Starlink could help Russia take the ground back. The operation retook 277 square kilometers north of Lyman. The drones that now hold that line lose their Starshield link above about 160 km/h.

Ukraine’s answer to Russia’s jet Shaheds: a jet drone named Bars, built to strike Russia and now turned around to hunt them. Zelenskyy says it has the best hit rate of any Ukrainian interceptor against the jet drones, about 30%, but the small jet engines it needs may be in short supply.

Progress on a sore point for Ukraine and Poland: remains of over 40 Ukrainians killed by Polish WWII units found in Łasków. The find is the first in years from Ukraine’s searches in Poland, coming as Warsaw keeps pressing Kyiv over how it remembers the UPA.

Military

Russia kept sneaking troops through gas pipes behind Ukrainian lines. Now Ukraine has gone more than 15 km underground to do the same to Russia. More than 30 Russian soldiers were captured and Russian losses topped 100, the Khartiia Corps reported.

Ukrainian OSINT analyst: Russia’s Yandex data center in Sasovo burned out inside, though its roof shows almost no significant holes. Yandex hasn’t said whether the AI supercomputers there were damaged.

Drones reportedly hit a Russian weapons plant near Moscow that Washington and Kyiv sanctioned. Militarnyi names the systems: Buk and S-300. Astra matched video of the explosion to the 75th Arsenal in Serpukhov.

Fog blinds Ukrainian drones. Russia resumes mechanized assaults in the south after months-long pause, military officials say. Russian forces periodically assault Ukrainian positions in small groups using motorcycles and quad bikes, the Southern Forces Grouping reported.

Ukraine’s Navy killed Russian Shahed: one drone boat launched another drone, which shot down third, all unmanned, all at sea. During the mission, Ukraine pairs a drone boat and a drone interceptor.

Intelligence and technology

35 US parts, a Chinese navigation unit, a Russian engine: what’s inside Russia’s Filin missile. Russia began firing the Filin at Ukraine in late summer. The firm that makes its onboard equipment also helps produce a Shahed-type drone.

Denmark puts a $112.6 million state guarantee behind the maker of Ukraine’s Flamingo missiles. Fire Point’s Danish fuel plant for its Flamingo cruise missiles is running late, and its estimated cost has roughly tripled.

Russia replaces its missiles as fast as it fires them, Ukrainian intelligence says. Its drone order this year tops 100,000. HUR calls the order a systematic bet on exhausting Ukraine’s air defense.

Romania shot down two drones it believes were Russia’s new Geran-4s. Europe isn’t ready for swarms of them, analyst warns. Analyst Fabian Hoffmann says jet-powered interceptors are one answer, but too few Western suppliers make the small engines they need.

Ukraine sends ground robot to string wire obstacles in open, taking its sappers out of kill zone. Ukraine hands one of the front’s deadliest jobs, stringing wire in the open, to a remote-controlled ground robot.

International

NATO’s weapons-buying agency opens dedicated door for Ukraine, non-member, letting it buy arms through its contracts and its firms bid for tenders. The agreement, signed by Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara, gives Ukraine a single entry point into 45 weapons programs.

Zelenskyy names three postwar security guarantees for Ukraine. Even Russia needs one of them, he says. He names NATO membership, direct US guarantees, and a European Coalition of the Willing as the paths under discussion.

Trump cannot get Putin to halt strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, so he blames Ukraine instead, Zelenskyy says. Before that, US officials had cut Kyiv off from US intelligence and lowered a speed cap on Starlink to pressure Ukraine.

Poland paused a military aid package over Lviv’s vote honoring WWII nationalists, Ukrainian source says. Polish ministry denies it. Warsaw has barred the councilor who proposed the resolution from the Schengen zone, and Poland’s defense minister wants Kyiv to distance itself.

War-hit Kyiv puts 85 European-funded buses on its streets. Here’s what riders find inside. Since 2022, the bank has provided 2 billion euros for emergency repairs to the country's infrastructure.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russian missiles and drones kill one and injure 24 in Kyiv, splitting its metro line in two. Hours after a Kremlin aide said Russia was ready in principle for new talks, prosecutors say Russia destroyed 13 homes in one Kyiv district.

Political and legal developments

From “bad-guy fleet” to “good-guy fleet”: US will let investors buy sanctioned tankers and return them to legal trade. Chris Wright puts the dark fleet at about 1,600 ships. Each would need US approval, on terms he didn’t spell out.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Ukraine’s best answer to Russia’s jet Shaheds is its own jet Shahed, turned around to hunt them. It’s called Bars, and Zelensky says it has the best hit rate of any Ukrainian interceptor against the jet drones, about 30%, but the small jet engines it needs may be in short supply.

Progress on a sore point for Ukraine and Poland: remains of over 40 Ukrainians killed by Polish WWII units found in Łasków. The find is the first in years from Ukraine’s searches in Poland, coming as Warsaw keeps pressing Kyiv over how it remembers the UPA.

Military

Ukraine’s interceptor crews destroyed thousands of Russian aerial targets during Vivaldi. Jet-powered Shaheds remain a challenge. The battalion’s commander said its work prevented Russian forces from tracking Ukrainian troop movements and striking advancing soldiers.

Two nights, two occupied capitals, two telecom operators running on seized Ukrainian assets: drones go after Russia’s communications in Donbas. The strikes on Donetsk and Luhansk hit the companies the occupation built on Ukrainian telecom property it seized.

Intelligence and technology

Some of Ukraine’s artillery soldiers were TikTokers yesterday, ComBat Vision says. Their new plugin teaches them to aim. Ukraine needs gunners fast but gets less-prepared recruits.

Ukraine’s top war charity names only way to save $25,000 to $4 million each time cheap Russian jet-powered drone is shot down. Russia’s jet drones now behave like small cruise missiles, the foundation of volunteer Serhii Sternenko, believes.

Starlink slowdown makes Ukraine’s Shahed-hunting drone maker rethink air-launched interceptors. Its spokesman says other companies that lean harder on Starlink have voiced concerns, and points to interest in Europe’s Eutelsat.

Who capped Ukraine’s Starlink? “Ultimately POTUS,” Musk said. Ultimately Musk, reports now say. The Pentagon says it gave no order, and Ukraine’s drones were still losing their link above 160 km/h as of 20 October.

Nuclear safety risk grows: Russian-occupied nuclear plant’s cooling pond keeps sinking, Russia runs short of diesel and staff, Ukraine says. The occupied plant depends on a single external line, its fuel reserve has not been resupplied for months, and its cooling pond keeps dropping, according to Ukraine’s intelligence and the IAEA.

International

In Oslo, US pushes Zelenskyy toward deal with Russia again. Day later, in same city, Norway discusses arming Ukraine with more NASAMS missiles. As Washington eases pressure on Russia and leans on Kyiv, Ukraine’s European partners are moving the other way.

European Parliament vice president launches hunger strike demanding a truce and evacuation for Russian-occupied Oleshky. Pina Picierno is calling on associations, citizens, and national and local institutions to join her campaign for the Russian-held town in Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russian strikes close plant of Ukraine’s biggest aid backer. Its 3,600 workers and millions in taxes now hang in balance. Russia is now hitting the German investment that helps keep Ukraine’s economy running.

Not just the grid: Russia struck a 24-story block, a university, and warehouses overnight, and four people are dead. Kyiv and Kharkiv Oblast counted the dead by morning, while hypermarkets burned and a hotel was damaged in other regions.

Political and legal developments

Her own city is under Russian fire, yet Kyiv woman urges killing Ukrainians among nearly 100,000 pro-Kremlin posts in two years. She faces up to 12 years. She is one of six pro-Kremlin agitators the Security Service has charged, accused of spreading hatred on the internet.

Norway bars deals with 33 more Russian financial institutions—and 22 more from India to Nigeria. The new rules also bar deals with Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport and curb exports to 51 entities, some in China and Türkiye.

Russia resumes diesel exports to Türkiye, Brazil, after Trump lifts sanctions on fuel supplies, boosting Moscow’s war revenue – Reuters. Moscow has lifted its export ban, with US sanctions relief opening the way for renewed sales even as Russia continues to face domestic fuel supply pressures.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Military

Russians try to sneak toward Zaporizhzhia through the dried-up Kakhovka Reservoir. Ukrainian intelligence captures three. Russian sabotage groups are using the overgrown bed of the reservoir Moscow drained to slip behind Ukrainian lines, and one captive in the footage says a bomber drone killed most of his group.

A diesel tank burns at Transneft’s Druzhba hub as Ukraine keeps striking Russian energy despite Trump’s pressure. Russia’s state pipeline monopoly has said nothing, and the local governor described the site only as an enterprise, while residents posted video of the flames.

More ballistic missile interceptors and F-16 repairs inside Ukraine: Kyiv’s two asks to Lockheed Martin. The talks came as a batch of Patriot missiles that allies have already paid for awaits a Pentagon signature, Ukrainian officials say.

Russia’s Rubicon hunts Ukrainian drone pilots. In Vivaldi, it became the target, and its morale fell sharply, says the Ukrainian general. Biletskyi noted his corps spent drones without limit on every Rubicon position it found. As the operation ends, he hands the Third Corps to an acting commander.

Ukraine has identified nearly 46,000 foreigners from 151 countries in Russia’s army—and says Moscow is on pace to meet its 2026 hiring plan. Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs says this year’s contracts already roughly match all of 2025, while new names keep surfacing from earlier years.

Ukraine has liberated more territory than Russia has captured since the beginning of fall—a trend that has persisted throughout 2026, Zelenskyy says. Ukrainian forces continue to repel Russian assaults and infiltration attempts in Dobropillia, the president said.

“This is a historic event”: Ukraine’s 92nd Assault Brigade uses heavy hexacopter to fly wounded soldier off kill zone in world’s first aerial evacuation of this kind. The position proved too mined and too hunted for the ground robots.

Intelligence and technology

US restores ballistic missile warnings to Ukraine after a week without advance notice before Russian attacks, Zelenskyy says. Ukraine had received no advance alerts during multiple Russian ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv over the last week, leaving no time to alert civilians before the missiles hit.

Is a Russian drone near you right now? Ukrainians have developed maps that track drones in near real time. Some drones never appear on it at all, so its makers say an empty screen is no proof of safety.

Rubio thinks Starlink is fixed. Kyiv says it still cuts out above 161 km/h. The two sides do not agree even on which service was capped.

Fifteen months ago, Ukraine’s online arms store for front-line units didn’t exist. Now, it delivers 1 in 5 drones that state buys. More than 500 combat units order drones, munitions, ground robots and electronic-warfare gear from it.

Kyiv gets no warning of the first of two Russian ballistic waves, hours after Zelenskyy said US alerts were back. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied any pause in intelligence-sharing and pointed to a software problem in Ukraine’s early-warning system a few nights earlier.

Ballistic missile warnings are back, but the Starlink cap stays, Zelenskyy says: Ukraine’s two US lifelines, one restored. Ukrainian drones still lose their connection above 161 km/h, too slow to catch Russia’s jet drones, he told NBC News.

International

Russia resumes diesel exports to Türkiye, Brazil, after Trump lifts sanctions on fuel supplies, boosting Moscow’s war revenue – Reuters. Moscow has lifted its export ban, with US sanctions relief opening the way for renewed sales even as Russia continues to face domestic fuel supply pressures.

South Korea will pull staff from Kyiv over North Korean POW handover made public at the UN. Korean officials put the cut at about half the embassy’s staff. Ukraine’s foreign minister calls the matter closed.

Russia has “behaved quite decently” toward Ukraine, Trump says, on the same day a Russian drone killed a one-year-old in a public park. Trump criticized Zelenskyy’s approach to peace negotiations on the same day a Russian drone killed six people, including a 14-month-old girl, in Kharkiv Oblast. Meanwhile, gaps in advance warnings for Russian ballistic attacks on Kyiv have raised further concerns about US support.

No warning, capped Starlink, unsigned Patriots: Zelenskyy lists US holds to senators as Kyiv reads them as pressure. He said he offered US envoys a 30-day pause on refinery strikes in exchange for Patriots. A US official disputed Kyiv’s account of the Patriot hold.

Lithuania’s armed forces chief says patrols on the Kaliningrad border have practically doubled as the troop mission runs into mid-November. Raimundas Vaikšnoras links the deployment to what he calls Russian preparations for a large-scale mobilization, saying Moscow lacks people for Ukraine.

Trump defends Russia sanctions waiver, says he does not want to drive Moscow from talks. He blamed Zelenskyy’s refinery strikes for diesel prices, while Rubio said Trump would take up to 60 days to assess the measures.

EU paid Russia 682 million euros for steel in eight months, with slab loophole keeping money flowing, and big consumers lobbying to keep it open — analysis. Bans cut most Russian metal, but an exemption lets slabs reach Belgium and Italy until 2028.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russian drone kills six in Kharkiv Oblast park, including mother and her 14-month-old in a stroller. Hours later, Ukraine shows photos to US senators. A Russian drone strike killed two children and four adults, while 15 people, including seven children, were injured, a local official said.

Most Ukrainians reject giving Russia all of Donbas. Support for resistance on rose to 62% after new US pressure, poll finds. The share ready to endure the war climbed as Washington eased Russian sanctions and cut Ukraine’s intelligence, and as Russia hammered its cities.

Political and legal developments

31 in May, 63 now: Ukraine’s arms makers pile into a regime of tax breaks and shielded data. The 32 firms that joined since May bring under a quarter of the early members’ average weapons revenue, by Euromaidan Press calculations.

Ukraine finally voted to tax cheap foreign parcels to unlock €3.7 billion—now Brussels decides whether it was enough, with a €70 billion gap ahead amid ongoing war. Parliament needed three tries to pass the tax, and nobody has yet signed up to pay the bigger bill for Russia’s war in 2027.

Two Germans charged in absentia over Bulgaria’s Starlink fire, one of three recent attacks on satellite links Ukraine relies on against Russia. Prosecutors say the men crossed in from Serbia as tourists, set the antennas alight within hours, and left the same night.

Ukraine opens its first war-crime case against a ship captain for carrying off 54,000 tons of its stolen grain. Ukraine opens a war-crime case over the Matros Pozynich captain.

Read our previous daily review here.

Exclusive

Belgium’s 10 F-16s bring Ukraine’s promised fleet to about 100 jets. Fewer than 40 are flying, as Russia’s jet drones run them ragged. The rest arrive in batches through 2029, and every sortie against Russia's jet drones brings the jets already in Ukraine closer to long inspections abroad.

Russia still parks its best bombers in the open. Ukraine has spent a year knocking out the air defenses that were supposed to protect them. The Russian air force parked six Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers out in the open at a base within reach of Ukraine's Neptune cruise missiles. Now at least four are wreckage.

Military

Ukraine has liberated more territory than Russia has captured since the beginning of fall—a trend that has persisted throughout 2026, Zelenskyy says. Ukrainian forces continue to repel Russian assaults and infiltration attempts in Dobropillia, the president said.

Intelligence and technology

Fifteen months ago, Ukraine’s online arms store for front-line units didn’t exist. Now, it delivers 1 in 5 drones that state buys. More than 500 combat units order drones, munitions, ground robots and electronic-warfare gear from it.

“This is a historic event”: Ukraine’s 92nd Assault Brigade uses heavy hexacopter to fly wounded soldier off kill zone in world’s first aerial evacuation of this kind. The position proved too mined and too hunted for the ground robots.

International

Trump defends Russia sanctions waiver, says he does not want to drive Moscow from talks. He blamed Zelenskyy’s refinery strikes for diesel prices, while Rubio said Trump would take up to 60 days to assess the measures.

EU paid Russia 682 million euros for steel in eight months, with slab loophole keeping money flowing, and big consumers lobbying to keep it open — analysis. Bans cut most Russian metal, but an exemption lets slabs reach Belgium and Italy until 2028.

Humanitarian and social impact

Kyiv gets no warning of the first of two Russian ballistic waves, hours after Zelenskyy said US alerts were back. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied any pause in intelligence-sharing and pointed to a software problem in Ukraine’s early-warning system a few nights earlier.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine opens its first war-crime case against a ship captain for carrying off 54,000 tons of its stolen grain. Ukraine opens a war-crime case over the Matros Pozynich captain.

Most Ukrainians reject giving Russia all of Donbas. Support for resistance on rose to 62% after new US pressure, poll finds. The share ready to endure the war climbed as Washington eased Russian sanctions and cut Ukraine’s intelligence, and as Russia hammered its cities.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Belgium’s 10 F-16s bring Ukraine’s promised fleet to about 100 jets. Fewer than 40 are flying, as Russia’s jet drones run them ragged. The rest arrive in batches through 2029, and every sortie against Russia's jet drones brings the jets already in Ukraine closer to long inspections abroad.

Russia still parks its best bombers in the open. Ukraine has spent a year knocking out the air defenses that were supposed to protect them. The Russian air force parked six Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers out in the open at a base within reach of Ukraine's Neptune cruise missiles. Now at least four are wreckage.

Military

Ukraine retook Kolodiazi north of Lyman as its drones hit 200-plus Russian vehicles in Operation Vivaldi’s last phase, Ukrainian drone officer says. Kolodiazi was encircled and retaken without street fighting while drones “closed” the sky, the chief of staff of the 60th Mechanized Brigade’s drone battalion says.

The drones flew 1,000 km. St. Petersburg’s oil terminal, fuel depot, and a nearby data center were waiting at the end. The attack came a week into a US-announced energy truce, during which Russia kept striking Ukraine’s power grid.

Ukraine cannot be forced to surrender, says commander whose brigade destroyed 57,000 Russian targets, as US pressure and Russian missiles test its will. Yurii Fedorenko of the Achilles brigade says the US turn toward Moscow may push Europe to arm Ukraine more.

Commanders from Azov, Marines, and 93rd tell Ukraine’s defense minister what front needs. He wants their methods scaled to other units. The goal, he says, is to keep soldiers alive.

As of 19 October 2026, the approximate losses of weapons and military equipment of the Russian Armed Forces from the beginning of the invasion to the present day:

• Personnel: 1567160 (+2100)
• Tanks: 12416
• APV: 25565 (+4)
• Artillery systems: 51317 (+24)
• MLRS: 2224
• Anti-aircraft systems: 1714
• Aircraft: 449
• Helicopters: 356
• UAV: 569994 (+1636)
• Cruise missiles : 5134
• Warships/boats: 35
• Submarines: 2
• Vehicles and fuel tanks: 164578 (+332)

Intelligence and technology

Ballistic missile warnings are back, but the Starlink cap stays, Zelenskyy says: Ukraine’s two US lifelines, one restored. Ukrainian drones still lose their connection above 161 km/h, too slow to catch Russia’s jet drones, he told NBC News.

Built as a cheap Shahed lookalike, Russia’s Gerbera now flies with a 10-kg warhead and an incendiary bag. The bigger Gerbera-2 packs a separate soft tank of incendiary mixture behind its main charge, photos from a Ukrainian Telegram channel show.

No crew, a cargo bed, and pontoons: Ukraine’s MAT1LDA robot is built to cross water with 400 kg. Its open frame takes cargo containers or evacuation stretchers, and a petrol engine drives all eight wheels.

How one invented claim becomes a chatbot’s confident answer in cognitive warfare: Ukraine’s drone chief maps Russia’s AI attack. Russia floods AI chatbots with millions of fake articles so they repeat Kremlin narratives as fact

International

Romania downs two Russian jet drones near Sulina, days before NATO allies meet on Black Sea security. Romania’s Defense Ministry released cockpit images of the shoot-down as allies prepare to discuss deterrence at a special session Romania requested.

A month before the diesel waiver, Trump’s envoys had already pitched Kyiv on Russian gas, NYT says. Behind the public peace talks, the envoys pressed Kyiv to consider reviving a trade Europe had spent years shutting down.

Poland, Bulgaria, now Lithuania: Russia’s suspected arson campaign reaches a third Starlink site serving Ukraine. Lithuanian officials said the night attack was foiled, and the prime minister said he believes the people behind it are already known.

Congress gave Trump 30 days to hit Russia’s oil buyers with 100% tariffs. He waives them two days before deadline, citing US interests. Moscow calls it historic. Moscow called the reversal historic.

G7 pledges 260 million euros to repair Chornobyl’s shield after Russia pierced it. Full repair will require 500 million euros by 2030, before corrosion sets in. Russian drone damaged the shield in 2025.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia hit Ukraine’s energy 76 times during a US-declared truce—and tens of thousands lost power overnight. Civilians killed and injured. Repair crews are working around the clock as substations in the center, west, and south of Ukraine go down again.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine, EU set up joint task force to fast-track anti-corruption reforms that gate membership. Brussels and Kyiv will meet to grind through the anti-corruption reforms.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Russia is losing the Black Sea grain war it started. Its answer is to sink civilian ships off Romania and Bulgaria. The burning ships off Romania and Bulgaria are the latest round of a contest Ukraine opened this summer, when it began choking Russia’s own Black Sea exports

Military

Zelenskyy’s warning that Russian airspace is becoming dangerous is proving true: Russia temporarily restricted operations at 27 airports amid a massive drone attack. Russia later lifted the restrictions, but Russian airports continued to experience flight disruptions as they resumed arrivals and departures.

Ukraine makes its anti-drone road nets a national standard in a new strategy for defensive lines through 2028. It has already strung over more than 1,000 kilometers of road. FPV drones hunt anything moving near the front, so Kyiv is codifying the protection solutions.

Ukraine’s military now orders supplies based on real front-line data, not guesswork, lawmaker says. Shift comes under new commander-in-chief. Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief, Drapatyi, is centering the army on soldiers’ lives and real front-line needs, a lawmaker believes.

Ukraine’s shell factories outpace state orders, arms company chief says: Kyiv spent five months buying from them this year, leaving six to produce. Private plants were built under Russian fire with no state investment, says the head of Ukrainian defense maker Ukrainian Armor.

“Operation to strike Russian targets deep in swamps continues”: Ukrainian Commander Madiar says his unit hits 7,306 Russian troops in first half of October, up 59% on August. The pace held through weather that usually grounds drones, says Robert “Madiar” Brovdi, who calls the trend the opposite of de-escalation.

Intelligence and technology

Musk pushed Trump to slow Starlink in Ukraine, weakening air defenses as Russian drones attacked cities – The Telegraph. The restrictions reportedly forced some Ukrainian drone missions to be called off and made it harder to intercept Russian jet-powered drones attacking cities.

White House ordered limits on Ukraine’s military satellite service — Reuters. Who made the decision remains unclear. Germany has questions for Washington, while the UK reports that Starlink access has been restored following assurances to its defense secretary.

Posting strike videos online may help Russia tune its drones’ optical targeting. Moscow now pays people to film hits, Ukrainian adviser warns. Russia is collecting footage of its Geran attack drones hitting Ukraine, probably to test the optical target-recognition systems that guide them in their final seconds.

Ukraine’s hobbit-named robot fired on targets up to 1.3 km away in a demo for border guards. First reported carrying a wounded soldier, Ukraine’s Frodo robot has now fired for a border guard brigade—built, its maker says, to hit and run.

Musk pointed at the US military over Ukraine’s satellite limits. Now a US official says the administration had nothing to do with them. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says it is in talks with partners and SpaceX to maintain stable service and prevent sudden restrictions on satellite services used by its military.

International

Belgium triples planned F-16 deliveries to Ukraine, pledges 10 jets by year-end. Prime Minister Bart De Wever announced the expanded commitment during talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels, as Ukraine seeks more aircraft and ammunition to counter Russian attacks.

Poland provided secret military aid to Ukraine, Zelenskyy hints amid air defense shortages. Ukraine’s president thanked Warsaw for undisclosed assistance and 20 mm ammunition as Russian drone and missile attacks strain Ukrainian air defenses and Europe faces greater pressure to fill gaps in US support.

22 House lawmakers press Trump to implement Russia sanctions law. Diesel deal draws bipartisan backlash. The lawmakers argue that using the law’s sanctions and tariff powers would force Russian President Vladimir Putin to take peace talks seriously.

Romania finally holds Russia responsible for the drone attacks on ships off its coast, and wants a joint NATO command for the Black Sea. The NATO states on the sea would take turns leading it, with Romania ready to host it from 2028.

EU fast-tracks merger of three European firms into one SpaceX rival. It wants to end reliance on US satellites that failed Ukraine this week. The EU plans to fast-track antitrust approval for Project Bromo, a satellite venture.

Trump calls Ukraine’s renewed refinery strikes “a disgrace” after Russia’s 39-missile strike on its energy sites. The president called Zelenskyy “P.T. Barnum” and said Biden armed Ukraine for free.

Ukraine and Japan plan prefabricated backup crossings for Kyiv’s bridges: 720 meters of structures already delivered. The fifth phase of the Emergency Recovery Program, recently signed by the two countries, allocates $15 million for Ukraine’s infrastructure needs.

Two tankers burn off Romania’s Sulina as Bulgaria says it lacks proof Russia is behind the Black Sea ship attacks. Seven crew members of a San Marino-flagged chemical tanker were still missing hours after it caught fire at anchor off the mouth of the Danube.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia pushes its drone war into Volyn Oblast on NATO border, cutting power to 370,000 as strikes creep toward EU. Moscow struck a region bordering Poland the same week it hit the central Kirovohrad Oblast hardest ever, exploiting a Starlink cap on Ukraine’s defenses.

One Ukraine out-produced third of EU’s steel. Russian strikes have now cut its output to zero. The 150-year-old industry made nothing last month after missiles wrecked almost every working blast furnace since August.

Russian drone cuts down unique energy line tower over Dnipro River in Kyiv. It can’t be rebuilt, and world is queuing for more power equipment. Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergo is already starting work on workarounds, but calls drones that cut down towers a new challenge.

Russia’s largest drone attack on Kirovohrad Oblast since the full-scale invasion kills three in Kropyvnytskyi. Drones struck critical infrastructure, transport companies, logistics sites, and homes across the central Ukrainian oblast, with its capital taking most of the damage.

On Monday she sat in her cousin’s Kyiv apartment, and by Wednesday a Russian strike had left a hole where the window was. Her cousin, his girlfriend, and an aunt survived inside, and rescuers lifted them out 15 minutes after the blast.

A Russian drone damaged Cosmogony, Ukraine’s largest painting, in the section depicting the future. Its artist spent nearly two years creating it. The museum is weighing whether to restore the burned section or keep the fire’s traces as a reminder of the war.

Political and legal developments

Hungary held $82 million in cash and gold from Ukraine for months. Now, it faces torture complaints in Europe’s top court. Hungarian forces stopped two Oschadbank vehicles in March, carrying cash and gold from Austria to Ukraine.

Ukraine detains a gas station worker and a Telegram commenter suspected of scouting targets for Russian strikes. One was allegedly reached through a former classmate in Russia, and the other allegedly took orders from a female handler there.

After Trump, Musk tells Ukraine’s president to go. Zelenskyy says he won’t resign and will never accept Ukrainian land as Russian. The Ukrainian leader told British broadcaster Piers Morgan that this refusal is why some “big guys” want him replaced.

Read our previous daily review here.

Exclusives

Russia is back at Dobropillia a year after it failed there. Now it’s the southern jaw of a pincer on Donbas’s last big free cities. This time Russia brought another army, and Dobropillia’s defenders have until the leaves fall to stop it.

Military

Ukraine’s military now orders supplies based on real front-line data, not guesswork, lawmaker says. Shift comes under new commander-in-chief. Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief, Drapatyi, is centering the army on soldiers’ lives and real front-line needs, a lawmaker believes.

“Operation to strike Russian targets deep in swamps continues”: Ukrainian Commander Madiar says his unit hits 7,306 Russian troops in first half of October, up 59% on August. The pace held through weather that usually grounds drones, says Robert “Madiar” Brovdi, who calls the trend the opposite of de-escalation.

Ukraine’s Navy says it hit six Su-34 bombers at a Russian airbase with Neptune missiles—the jets that drop glide bombs on Ukrainian towns (updated). Footage from Borisoglebsk showed a large fire at the base after Russian officials declared a missile alert, though the damage has not been independently confirmed.

Ukraine is going back to hitting Russian oil after its Trump-pressured pause, during which Kyiv got no US warnings of incoming ballistic missiles. The pause was meant to seal a US-announced energy truce, but Russia kept hitting power plants while Ukraine lost early warnings and drone connectivity.

To scale up air defense without straining the front, Ukraine enlists business. In under year nearly 100 companies have joined, their crews downing 60-plus targets. The crews fight under Air Force commands, using interceptor drones and automated turrets.

Intelligence and technology

Posting strike videos online may help Russia tune its drones’ optical targeting. Moscow now pays people to film hits, Ukrainian adviser warns. Russia is collecting footage of its Geran attack drones hitting Ukraine, probably to test the optical target-recognition systems that guide them in their final seconds.

Ukraine’s shell factories outpace state orders, arms company chief says: Kyiv spent five months buying from them this year, leaving six to produce. Private plants were built under Russian fire with no state investment, says the head of Ukrainian defense maker Ukrainian Armor

Ukraine’s hobbit-named robot fired on targets up to 1.3 km away in a demo for border guards. First reported carrying a wounded soldier, Ukraine’s Frodo robot has now fired for a border guard brigade—built, its maker says, to hit and run.

Musk pointed at the US military over Ukraine’s satellite limits. Now a US official says the administration had nothing to do with them. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says it is in talks with partners and SpaceX to maintain stable service and prevent sudden restrictions on satellite services used by its military.

International

Ukraine and Japan plan prefabricated backup crossings for Kyiv’s bridges: 720 meters of structures already delivered. The fifth phase of the Emergency Recovery Program, recently signed by the two countries, allocates $15 million for Ukraine’s infrastructure needs.

After Trump, Musk tells Ukraine’s president to go. Zelenskyy says he won’t resign and will never accept Ukrainian land as Russian. The Ukrainian leader told British broadcaster Piers Morgan that this refusal is why some “big guys” want him replaced.

US weighs relief for sanctioned shadow fleet tankers, days after freeing Russian diesel. Officials say only unsanctioned oil would sail, but Reuters says Trump’s diesel push could pressure them to let Russian fuel aboard.

Ukraine’s war budget has $52 billion hole, and army needs $45 billion more on top. The West won’t send Ukraine the billions it needs until Kyiv delivers the reforms it promised.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russian drone cuts down unique energy line tower over Dnipro River in Kyiv. It can’t be rebuilt, and world is queuing for more power equipment. Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergo is already starting work on workarounds, but calls drones that cut down towers a new challenge.

Two tankers burn off Romania’s Sulina as Bulgaria says it lacks proof Russia is behind the Black Sea ship attacks. Seven crew members of a San Marino-flagged chemical tanker were still missing hours after it caught fire at anchor off the mouth of the Danube.

Russia’s largest drone attack on Kirovohrad Oblast since the full-scale invasion kills three in Kropyvnytskyi. Drones struck critical infrastructure, transport companies, logistics sites, and homes across the central Ukrainian oblast, with its capital taking most of the damage.

On Monday she sat in her cousin’s Kyiv apartment, and by Wednesday a Russian strike had left a hole where the window was. Her cousin, his girlfriend, and an aunt survived inside, and rescuers lifted them out 15 minutes after the blast.

A Russian drone damaged Cosmogony, Ukraine’s largest painting, in the section depicting the future. Its artist spent nearly two years creating it. The museum is weighing whether to restore the burned section or keep the fire’s traces as a reminder of the war.

Political and legal developments

Hungary held $82 million in cash and gold from Ukraine for months. Now, it faces torture complaints in Europe’s top court. Hungarian forces stopped two Oschadbank vehicles in March, carrying cash and gold from Austria to Ukraine.

Ukraine detains a gas station worker and a Telegram commenter suspected of scouting targets for Russian strikes. One was allegedly reached through a former classmate in Russia, and the other allegedly took orders from a female handler there.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies, whose independence EU made condition for membership, have clawed back $5.1 million for state budget. Detectives found that a regional branch’s inaction had put millions at risk.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

America has sided with Russia against Ukraine. Europe should stop pretending and build a coalition against Russia, China, and even the US. In three days, Washington sanctioned the court that issued Putin’s arrest warrant, lifted its own sanctions on Russian diesel, called for Zelenskyy to step down, and declared an “energy ceasefire” that asks only Ukraine to stop firing. These are not the acts of an ally.

Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps took the lessons of the failed 2023 counteroffensive into Operation Vivaldi. It fought small, and won.. Five months in, it has erased 18 months of Russian advances toward Sloviansk.

Military

Ukraine blocks Russia from outflanking its fortress cities in Donbas, retaking 277 square kilometers and hitting 8,000 Russian troops. “Four seasons of ‘Vivaldi’ are complete. But the music continues. Until we meet again!” the Third Army Corps noted.

Intelligence and technology

“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government”: Musk says Trump, not SpaceX, is behind cut hitting Ukraine. The ordinary Starlink on drones is capped at about 160 km/h, too slow for some missions, so faster flight needs the military StarShield version.

“Trump and Musk must be held accountable”: US senator warns Starlink network failing over Ukraine could cripple its shield against Russian missiles and drones. Ukraine’s air defense leans on Musk’s Starlink.

“Trump was looking for any opportunity to undermine our defense capabilities,” top Ukrainian volunteer, who supplied 291,502 FPV drones to front, says of sudden Starlink limit. Ukraine had stopped hitting Russian oil refineries as Trump asked, yet the Starlink limit still landed.

NATO country that pays for Kyiv’s Starlink warns Musk as his cap breaks Ukraine’s drone missions: “As your European customers, we are watching you”. “Are you playing politics with your products again?”, Poland’s foreign minister challenges Musk

Planned capacity of 12,000 interceptors a year, under 100 seconds to target: US firm pitches a low-cost drone killer. The fastest model cruises at 540 km/h, which may be enough to catch Russia’s jet Gerans, a defense news outlet suggests..

Ukraine-NATO AI built to forecast Russia’s front-line drone attacks from past data and weather is ready to plug into the army. Drone types, areas, time windows: the model was tested on real data. A second tool ranks artillery plans and is now in trials.

New Starlink restrictions disrupt Ukrainian drone missions. Kyiv adviser says move is tied to “political situation”. SpaceX may have imposed the restrictions at the Trump administration’s request, activist Serhii Sternenko suggested.

Ukrainian OSINT channel: Russia turned a bare field into a Geran-5 launch site in a month—and drones are already arriving. Eight launcher spots, 32 drone-prep pads, and a layout the channel likens to Tsymbulova, a Russian drone base Ukraine keeps striking.

Ukraine sent a spiked tank and a Bradley into Russian drone fire. The spikes held, and Ukraine’s own drones got them home. Armored vehicles aren't dead on arrival anymore on the drone-patrolled battlefield. Friendly drones can escort them to the fight.

International

“He thinks Ukraine is a weak link and that it needs to be squeezed into giving in”: diplomat on why Trump pressures Kyiv, not Moscow. Trump is using aid and intelligence as levers over Kyiv.

“It finances an economy geared toward total war”—Ukraine’s third president on the Russian diesel Washington just cleared. Viktor Yushchenko invokes the Budapest Memorandum and Pearl Harbor days after the US waived sanctions on Russian diesel until April 2027.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia attacked Ukrainian retailer Epicentr’s warehouse 10 times in one day, destroying about 85% of goods, company says. The Khmelnytskyi hub had been effectively Epicentr’s only surviving large warehouse complex, after Russia destroyed its two largest logistics complexes in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast.

1,125 Kyiv residents injured in Russian attacks since the start of 2026, more than a third of them in five weeks from late August, Kyiv health chief says. Kyiv emergency medical teams have responded to 1,920 calls related to Russian attacks since the start of the year, according to the city’s health department head.

Ukraine warns of “a new type of humanitarian crisis” as Russia aims at its biggest cities. Even border and frontline oblasts are further along on resilience plans than the capital, Zelenskyy says.

Russia bombs Sloviansk’s warming center as the day’s attacks wound four Red Cross workers. The 250-kg bomb injured eight people and damaged five apartment blocks, and the wounded workers belonged to a Red Cross branch that had relocated from Lyman for safety

Three days after Washington announced an energy ceasefire, Russia fires 39 ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s grid. Zelenskyy says Russia has never shown America such disrespect. At least 600,000 people lost power, and four died in Kyiv.

New developments

Russia-linked bot networks kept their weekly rhythm after drone strikes on three Yandex data centers—disinformation monitor LetsData. One network that spread fake Die Welt sites now pushes a fake Ukrinform site about mobilization in Ukraine, its analysts found.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

“Now it’s your turn”: US envoys planned to show Moscow a refinery pause and a diesel deal, then ask for something back, a source tells Reuters. Ukraine’s part of that exchange was to stop striking Russia’s oil plants, a request Kushner repeated at the Miami meeting.

Military

Ukrainian scouts used a captured Russian soldier’s radio to gather intelligence for four days. Recon soldiers shared stories about their daily lives with ArmyInform.

No contact with command, a comrade maimed by a mine. A former TV director fought—and halted the Russians. He saved three soldiers in six months, ArmyInform says. One wounded comrade he could only hear on the radio.

Ukraine says it hit 12 Russian refineries in September. No refinery strikes reported since Trump’s “energy ceasefire”. Zelenskyy said Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities continued after Trump’s announcement, while Moscow had yet to confirm a ceasefire.

The night Trump announced a diesel deal with Putin, drones knocked out more than half the tanks at a Russian fuel-export terminal. The Rostov-on-Don site, which loads oil products onto river and sea tankers, burned for two days and was still smoking on the third.

“We don’t need to hit the entire plant”—Ukraine’s drones go for refinery parts sanctions make hard to repair. Of 54 strikes The Washington Post examined, more than half appear to have damaged the units that start turning crude into fuel.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine’s swimming robot can tow 10 tons, its maker says. Hook up a gun, and the shells ride aboard. It has already swum across the Desna River, its team says, and Ukraine’s Defense Ministry cleared it for use in 2025.

Russian ballistic missiles hit Kyiv before sirens, gap that lands hard amid fears that Washington could cut data that warns of launches. The alert came late because Ukrainian radar detected the missiles only during the attack, with no advance data on launches, the Air Force says.

Kinzhal is 90% identical to Iskander-M: Ukraine’s intelligence identifies 58 companies in production chain. Russia is developing a modified version of the Kinzhal missile, equipped with a warhead that strikes targets with fragments and a blast wave.

Built by Ukraine’s ex-defense minister and unit that wrecked $12 billion of Russian gear, new interceptor downs two jet drones over Kyiv. Mykhailo Fedorov and Lasar’s Group commander Pavlo Yelizarov developed the drone in a month, Fedorov says.

Russia is building satellite network that could put all of Europe in reach, defense executive warns. Oleksandr Danyliuk, head of the European defense-tech firm Destinus, called Russia’s Rassvet system an extraordinary threat, first to Ukraine and then to Europe.

International

Ukraine wins seat on UN Human Rights Council, vows to seek accountability for Russian abuses. Elected with 162 votes, Ukraine says it will focus on documenting violations, protecting prisoners of war and unlawfully detained civilians, and returning children taken by Russia.

Finland calls for EU tourist visa ban on Russians until Moscow ends war against Ukraine as bloc weighs tougher restrictions. As suspected Russian sabotage and other hybrid operations spread across Europe, EU officials are weighing tighter restrictions on Russian travel, diplomats, and former combatants to reduce security risks.

Germany works to organize a Coalition of the Willing meeting as Russia strikes Ukraine’s energy sector. Ukraine and Germany have also agreed to hold a meeting of national security advisers in the E3 format.

France seizes Russian shadow fleet tanker in Indian Ocean, vows to combat illicit oil trade “wherever it may be in the world”. The French Navy intercepted the DF Peak in the Indian Ocean over suspicions it was sailing under a false flag. Russia relies on shadow fleet tankers to keep oil revenues flowing despite Western sanctions.

Germany detains two Turkish nationals suspected of torching a Polish Starlink station that helps route internet to Ukraine. Polish radio reports that two more people who may be tied to the arson are in German custody.

Russia’s sabotage of Europe should bring Ukraine more weapons through US purchase scheme, with clear statement of where its red lines lie, NATO’s top European commander says. The PURL program lets allies fund US-made weapons for Ukraine and drew nearly $5.5 billion in pledges before May.

EU blacklists 1,569 Russian arms suppliers and their bosses in its biggest sanctions round ever, as Trump eases up on Moscow. Most of the listed firms feed the supply chain behind the ballistic missiles Russia fires at Ukrainian cities, and EU ministers vowed to keep up the pressure despite the US-Russia fuel arrangement.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia used civilians as human shields, then shelled them near Kupiansk, Ukraine’s Khartiia says. Aerial reconnaissance footage recorded casualties among a group that included two women and a child, according to Khartiia. The Ukrainian corps says Russian media could use the incident to accuse Kyiv of attacking civilians.

Russian strike collapses a Kharkiv apartment stairwell and kills three, days after the US waived sanctions on Russia’s diesel. Rescuers dug through the night to reach the people buried in the four-story building, while the White House still wants Kyiv to stop striking Russian refineries.

Ukraine’s largest steelworks begins cold shutdown after extensive damage from Russian strikes, saying safe operation is impossible while war continues. The plant will spend two months shutting down safely before mothballing its industrial assets, with any restart dependent on conditions after the war.

Political and legal developments

Energy truce with strings attached: Kyiv reportedly told to spare Russian refineries or lose US intelligence and arms. EU loans ease Ukraine’s budget, yet satellite data, Patriot interceptors, and US-made weapons still hinge on Washington, giving US President Donald Trump room to squeeze Kyiv.

US continues sharing intelligence with Ukraine, Trump says amid Russia deal backlash. Questions remain over missed warning for latest attack. Ukraine received no advance warning before Russia launched five ballistic missiles and more than 100 drones, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, raising questions about how intelligence support was functioning.

Frozen assets, embargoes, entry bans: Ukraine names the pressure it wants the EU to put on Moscow. Kyiv says it is ready for energy, food-security, and full ceasefires—and that Moscow has to be forced to agree.

“Zelenskyy is helping Democrats”: Trump’s MAGA base accuses Ukraine of trying to swing US midterms, says journalist in US. The narrative runs across all levels of the US information space, from anonymous accounts to national television.

Bipartisan US senators say Trump’s Russian diesel deal conflicts with 2022 ban, as he presses Kyiv to spare Russian refineries. The administration says the deal will lower fuel prices, but lawmakers warn it could help finance Russia’s war against Ukraine.

For years, Hungary tied Ukraine’s whole EU course to ethnic Hungarians’ language rights. Kyiv has now passed the schooling law meant to lift the block. Hungary had blocked four stages of Ukraine’s membership process over the matter.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine could hold elections if Russia agrees to 60-day ceasefire. Moscow counters with truce lasting only voting day. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says Ukraine needs the 60 days not to hold elections but to heal its wounds and keep fighting.

Read our previous daily review here.

Exclusive

Europe has 11 ways to choke Russia’s war. It doesn’t need Trump’s permission for any of them. Three weeks after signing new Russia sanctions into law, Washington suspended them for Russian diesel, while the levers that would hurt Moscow most sit in European hands.

Military

Ukrainian drones hit three of Russian tech giant Yandex’s data centers in four days. Ukraine’s president says the bots thinned out too. Lithuania’s prime minister wants more such strikes to protect elections. Researchers say the bot data shows Yandex’s web crawlers, not trolls.

Ukrainian marines cleared about 6 km² near Pokrovsk without losses. The Russians they faced got a can of meat a week. The deputy commander says the operation also yielded a lot of intelligence—and that more surprises await Russia.

Ten casualties to one, by a NATO official’s count: Russia’s September in Ukraine’s kill zones. Russia kept sending troops into drone-packed kill zones in September, and up to 28,000 died, a senior NATO official told Bloomberg.

Russia’s supply base in occupied Luhansk Oblast burned overnight—NASA’s fire map caught it. The fires broke out together and grew within the hour, satellite data show, and Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ reported heavy Ukrainian strikes in the area.

Short on interceptors, Ukraine goes after the launchers: eight Russian ballistic systems hit, three destroyed since September, a minister says. Ukraine's Defense Minister says the hits made Moscow rework planned barrages, as he presses partners for anti-ballistic missiles in bulk instead of one-off deliveries.

Intelligence and technology

Russia’s sabotage of Europe should bring Ukraine more weapons through US purchase scheme, with clear statement of where its red lines lie, NATO’s top European commander says. The PURL program lets allies fund US-made weapons for Ukraine and drew nearly $5.5 billion in pledges before May.

Built by Ukraine’s ex-defense minister and unit that wrecked $12 billion of Russian gear, new interceptor downs two jet drones over Kyiv. Mykhailo Fedorov and Lasar’s Group commander Pavlo Yelizarov developed the drone in a month, Fedorov says.

Russia is building satellite network that could put all of Europe in reach, defense executive warns. Oleksandr Danyliuk, head of the European defense-tech firm Destinus, called Russia’s Rassvet system an extraordinary threat, first to Ukraine and then to Europe.

Russia is hacking cameras across Europe to track arms bound for Ukraine. At home, Ukraine has secured about 40,000 that could guide strikes — WSJ. In 2024, Russian hackers seized residential webcams in Kyiv, according to Ukraine’s Security Service.

International

“Zelenskyy is helping Democrats”: Trump’s MAGA base accuses Ukraine of trying to swing US midterms, says journalist in US. The narrative runs across all levels of the US information space, from anonymous accounts to national television.

Bipartisan US senators say Trump’s Russian diesel deal conflicts with 2022 ban, as he presses Kyiv to spare Russian refineries. The administration says the deal will lower fuel prices, but lawmakers warn it could help finance Russia's war against Ukraine.

Ten years on, Britain’s prime minister says Russia meddled in the Brexit vote—and warns Germany and France. In 2020, London said it saw “no evidence of successful interference.” Now Andy Burnham says Merz told him the AfD is linked to Russia.

Political and legal developments

For years, Hungary tied Ukraine’s whole EU course to ethnic Hungarians’ language rights. Kyiv has now passed the schooling law meant to lift the block. Hungary had blocked four stages of Ukraine’s membership process over the matter.

EU blacklists 1,569 Russian arms suppliers and their bosses in its biggest sanctions round ever, as Trump eases up on Moscow. Most of the listed firms feed the supply chain behind the ballistic missiles Russia fires at Ukrainian cities, and EU ministers vowed to keep up the pressure despite the US-Russia fuel arrangement.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine could hold elections if Russia agrees to 60-day ceasefire. Moscow counters with truce lasting only voting day. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says Ukraine needs the 60 days not to hold elections but to heal its wounds and keep fighting.

New developments

Peacekeepers, riot police, and drone crews: Russia’s bloc rehearses an operation in a Belarusian oblast bordering two NATO states. Police and national guard units train alongside soldiers from five former Soviet states, under priorities Russia set as the bloc’s chair this year.

Germany stays in Russia’s sabotage crosshairs, and its industry now braces for the long haul. Companies are no random targets, the country’s main industry lobby warns, a week after the foreign intelligence chief said Germany had become a main obstacle to Russian power in Europe.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Russia is funneling the Ukrainian children it abducts into military camps and conscription. Ukrainian lawyer says world can legally call this genocide—but lacks the will. Kateryna Rashevska can walk you through exactly how one Ukrainian child disappears into Russia: the occupied-territory orphanage, the foster placement with a Kremlin-connected family, the re-education camp, the military uniform, the draft notice that arrives at sixteen.

Military

Drones now cause about 96% of Russia’s battlefield losses. Ukraine’s drone force says it has hit more than 100,000 Russian troops this year alone. That is more than 150,000 since the Unmanned Systems Forces was created.

Intelligence and technology

Fears that Ukraine will lose Starlink are back after Musk backed Trump against Zelenskyy. Adviser says profit makes cutoff unlikely. Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov says Musk is first of all a businessman, and Ukraine brings SpaceX significant profit, so he is sure no one will switch it off.

Russia is building jet drones that fly 800 kilometers per hour, and Ukraine says it is already working on how to stop next generation. Russia’s jet-powered Gerans fly several times faster than the propeller Shaheds and remain the main challenge for air defense.

Ukraine ordered 54% more FPV attack drones this year than in all of 2025, and deliveries jumped almost fourfold. Contracting across all drone types is up about 5.5 times in recent months compared with a year earlier.

Norwegian nonprofit commits $1 million for interceptor drones to protect Ukraine’s Black Sea ports from Russian drones. The funding will equip Ukrainian border guards and military units with interceptor drones and support equipment to protect port infrastructure vital to Ukraine’s agricultural exports.

Russia equips Geran attack drones with image-based navigation using Google map imagery, reducing reliance on satellite navigation that Ukraine can jam, defense adviser warns. Russian drones can use stored images of terrain to navigate toward targets, making them less dependent on satellite signals that Ukrainian electronic warfare systems can disrupt.

Once considered “taboo,” Russian assassination plots against European defense executives are escalating as its hybrid warfare grows bolder, intelligence agencies warn – FT. European spy agencies say Moscow is expanding covert operations against defense industry leaders, seeking to intimidate companies supplying weapons to Ukraine and weaken support for Kyiv.

Ukraine, long keeping its weapons at home, now lets 18 arms makers export, approving over 90% of more than 400 applications. Ukraine’s defense output is projected at $55 billion this year, up from about $1 billion at the start of the invasion.

International

Trump declares immediate energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Zelenskyy says it was news to him, but Ukraine’s ready. Trump wrote on Truth Social that both sides had agreed to stop striking each other’s energy facilities.

EU imports record 12.18 million tons of Russian Arctic LNG in nine months, 9.5% more than year earlier — research group. Europe spent about 7.88 billion euros on it, the German group of experts says.

Deals with dictators lead to hell: Estonia’s PM urges Europe to help Ukraine destroy Russia’s refineries after Washington eased sanctions on diesel. Kristen Michal will raise it at the European Council next week.

Australia keeps Russian fuel out even as US opens its market: “We do not want Vladimir Putin to benefit from this war in Middle East”. Australia says it has 43 days of petrol and 31 days of diesel stockpiled, enough to wait out high prices without buying from Russia.

Humanitarian and social impact

Hours after Trump declared an energy ceasefire, Russia hit Kharkiv power plant, one of 200-plus strikes on Ukraine’s grid this week, Zelenskyy says. They killed more than 150 people and wounded more than 700.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine wants to draft 15 of every 100 workers at its weapons plants. Arms makers say this could slow guns soldiers need. You can’t just replace a skilled arms worker, makers say. It takes years to build such teams.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Russia is funneling the Ukrainian children it abducts into military camps and conscription. Ukrainian lawyer says world can legally call this genocide—but lacks the will. Kateryna Rashevska can walk you through exactly how one Ukrainian child disappears into Russia: the occupied-territory orphanage, the foster placement with a Kremlin-connected family, the re-education camp, the military uniform, the draft notice that arrives at sixteen.

“Supplying Crimea is turning into a nightmare”: Ukrainian drones hit Russian trucks 770 times in September, and winter will make it worse, analyst says. That's the most of any month this year, up from 630 in August, even though Russian supply trucks now travel in convoys with their own air defense.

International

Trump’s Russian diesel deal, which drew fury in Ukraine, is unlikely to lower prices, experts say. Analysts say Putin pushes for sanctions relief and no new US sanctions, all without any demand to stop the war

Ukraine shares its fortification know-how with Estonia’s new defense minister, weeks after 70-million-euro shells scandal felled his predecessor. Martin Herem took the post on 16 September, after Hanno Pevkur resigned over a procurement scandal.

Memory for 100,000 killed by Nazis: Germany recognizes special responsibility to Ukraine and links it to support against Russia’s war. The Bundestag passed two resolutions ahead of the 85th anniversary of the massacre, a rare moment when the governing coalition and the opposition aligned.

Humanitarian and social impact

Five Russian bombs kill 17 in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia next day after Trump lets Russia ship first 300,000 tonnes of its diesel. Zelenskyy tied the strike to a US move easing sanctions on Russian diesel.

Political and legal developments

Washington makes it official: US Treasury license clears sale and import of Russian diesel blocked by sanctions. The US Treasury’s waiver lets Russian diesel back onto world markets.

While Washington eases up on Russia, Europe hits back harder: EU plans to pass its largest sanctions package on Russia’s war machine in two days. It is the largest set of sanctions aimed at Russia’s defense industry, covering electronics.

New developments

Russia quietly grows fleet that funds its war: one shell firm in Marshall Islands buys two gas tankers from Chinese and Greek owners. Ukraine named 20 ships that move Russian oil and gas.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

“Supplying Crimea is turning into a nightmare”: Ukrainian drones hit Russian trucks 770 times in September, and winter will make it worse, analyst says. That's the most of any month this year, up from 630 in August, even though Russian supply trucks now travel in convoys with their own air defense.

Armored assaults aren’t dead. Robots got the credit, but it was Ukrainian infantry in armored trucks that reversed a year of Russian gains near Lyman. Robots cleared the mines and blew up the bunkers, but soldiers still had to ride in and hold the ground.

Military

Ukraine suffered 10 times fewer casualties than Russia in Vivaldi counteroffensive, veteran says. Ukraine’s innovations in drone and ground robot tactics are changing frontline warfare. Ukrainian forces combined assaults with drones and ground robots to reclaim territory in Donetsk Oblast while limiting their exposure to Russian fire.

More than 500 drones by Moscow’s count: Kh-101 fuel plant, second Yandex data center, and a far-north refinery hit. Russian officials confirmed the fires but named none of the targets.

Ukraine reruns its Vivaldi playbook outside Kramatorsk and pushes Russia back across the Siverskyi Donets, ISW says. Even Russian milbloggers now concede Ukrainian gains east of Sloviansk, including a river crossing toward a key height.

Drone attack forces Yandex to shut down its data center on the grounds of a sanctioned Russian machine-tool plant. In Bashkortostan, Ukraine’s General Staff says its forces hit a Gazprom refinery. Salavat’s mayor says an unnamed enterprise there keeps working.

Fewer targets, more waves: jet-powered Gerans partly free Russia to concentrate missiles, ISW says. The faster drones break through Ukraine’s air defenses more reliably, and ISW expects the same strike pattern in Russia’s winter campaign against Ukraine’s energy.

Intelligence and technology

Air-raid sirens cost Kyiv’s weapons makers 61.8 working hours in month, nearly eight days, yet their contract deadlines stay fixed, two groups say. Ukraine’s gunmakers want the government to count real siren downtime against contract deadlines.

Ukrainian producer that neutralized more than 7,000 drones over 100 square kilometers in year, plays enemy in Pentagon contest, and gets invitation to continue. Ukraine’s Phantom Defense built the counter-drone environment for the Pentagon’s Gauntlet II.

Ukraine uses up Europe’s yearly supply of thermal sensors in about five months, so two Ukrainian firms will build their own plants in the West. Their new venture wants to give Western armies their own supply of the chip that lets thermal cameras see body heat in the dark.

Russia has a plan for Ukraine this winter, Ukraine says: intercepted document reportedly outlines up to 1,000 missiles, drones, and bombs targeting 60 critical infrastructure sites. Substations near Ukraine’s western border, through which the country receives electricity from Europe, could be among the first targets.

International

Trump says Russia agreed to supply millions of tons of diesel to US and global markets as he blames Ukraine for fuel price hikes driven by Iran war. The announcement comes as Trump pressures Kyiv to halt attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, which Ukraine targets to weaken Moscow’s war economy.

Head of Russian military propaganda network to be expelled from Montenegro over suspected anti-EU operation. Authorities ordered Mikhail Zvynchuk, founder of the Russian military-focused Rybar network, and four associates to leave the country after seizing drones and recording equipment.

Ukrainian journalists say Austria detained them “like terrorists”: prosecutor says suspicion unsubstantiated. Tkach says armed people smashed the car windows, forced the journalists onto the road, and put a knee on his neck during the detention.

Russia sells cheaper fuel abroad and pays to keep its own pumps running amid Ukraine’s refinery strikes, but crude money still flows. After Ukraine’s drone strikes on refineries, Russia’s diesel exports, once its biggest fuel export, fell to a decade low.

Fought against Ukraine, now claimed to be victims: Kenya’s plea for five men held by Ukraine. Kenya says the men took Russian army contracts under false job promises.

Moldova pulls its border officers off Ukrainian soil again as Russian drones keep hitting crossings. “They will work on the territory of Moldova.” Moldovan Interior Minister Daniela Misail-Nikitin, on withdrawing border personnel from Ukraine.

Lithuania puts up to 100 soldiers on Kaliningrad border as officials brace for possible Russian mobilization. The move comes as Moscow rejects reports of a new call-up while Ukrainian officials warn Russia is preparing to expand its forces.

80% of Moldovans say country is unprepared for attack as Russian drones flow into its airspace, but few back NATO membership. A new poll shows widespread concern over Moldova’s ability to withstand an attack, even as only 4% of respondents see NATO membership as the answer. Russian drones have increasingly crossed Moldovan airspace in recent weeks.

Polish SIM cards found inside Russian drones in Poland, raising new questions over 2025 incursion. More than 30 Russian drones entered Polish airspace in September 2025, and some were found carrying Polish SIM cards, RMF24 reports.

Ukraine’s FM links Russian plague scare to history of cover-ups, from anthrax to Chornobyl and COVID-19. Russia’s handling of the suspected case fits a broader pattern of concealing information about dangerous incidents, Andrii Sybiha said.

Humanitarian and social impact

Eggs cost nearly 20 times US prices in occupied Oleshky, where Ukraine’s ombudsman says people die of hunger every day. Residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky cannot leave the city and are waiting for an opportunity to evacuate through a humanitarian corridor.

Warehouses, a home-improvement store, a farm: Russia’s strikes aimed past the grid at Ukraine’s civilian economy. Three people were killed and a woman was still missing as the outages spread.

Blackouts return to Kyiv as Russia prepares to freeze civilians over the winter. Russia is once again targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as winter approaches, threatening to leave civilians without power, heat, and water as Moscow ramps up its campaign to cripple the country’s critical systems.

Two 14-year-old boys killed by an explosive device in a field in Sumy Oblast. Residents are being warned that, in addition to constant Russian attacks, there is a risk of encountering explosive devices.

Russia kills 30 in strike on two passenger buses in Kramatorsk. Hours after the strike, the head of Donetsk Oblast ordered public transport in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk halted, saying Russia had made the buses a target.

A 3-year-old girl came to visit her aunt in Pryluky, Ukraine. By morning, a Russian missile had killed her grandmother and uncle. Zlatoslava is in hospital in Chernihiv. Her aunt, a police officer, was wounded in the strike.

Political and legal developments

Investigators say prosecutors shielded scam call centers. Their office has now fired eight people and is checking how its ex-chief left Ukraine. The acting chief also ordered out a deputy at the regional office he ran until September and dropped no-contest hiring of outsiders.

Read our previous daily review here.

Military

Drone attack forces Yandex to shut down its data center on the grounds of a sanctioned Russian machine-tool plant. In Bashkortostan, Ukraine’s General Staff says its forces hit a Gazprom refinery. Salavat’s mayor says an unnamed enterprise there keeps working.

Fewer targets, more waves: jet-powered Gerans partly free Russia to concentrate missiles, ISW says. The faster drones break through Ukraine’s air defenses more reliably, and ISW expects the same strike pattern in Russia’s winter campaign against Ukraine’s energy.

Ukraine’s drone pilot calls it his proudest strike: cheap FPV drone detonating over two tons of explosives packed inside Russian mine-clearer.

Kalashnikov, Russia’s biggest small-arms maker, says it fills its entire 2026 arms contract on time with batch of 7.62mm Dragunov sniper rifle. Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence said in February that nearly half of Kalashnikov’s plants faced no sanctions from any coalition country.

Ukraine says it struck plant making parts for Russian military aircraft engines—a Snizhne factory Russia has used since 2014. Ukraine’s 413th Raid Regiment has released footage showing the strike on a facility that produces components for gas-turbine engines used in attack aircraft and combat helicopters.

Intelligence and technology

Sea drone vs. air drone: Ukraine’s Sargan-3000 turns anti-aircraft gunner. A radio-steered Russian Shahed met a remote-controlled machine gun at sea—operator against operator, and the gun won.

Ukraine’s Frodo robot carries wounded soldier in first reported evacuation. The mission involved one of the first Frodo versions supplied to the military for testing, according to its developer.

It was built to shield Russian crops from hail. Now it’s being pitched as a drone interceptor. In farm service, the Alazan flies about 10 km and climbs up to 8 km. Russian state TV showed a guided version at a training range Putin toured.

AI is changing Russia’s drone war on Ukrainian cities, deputy air defense commander says. Russia’s jet-powered Geran-4 drones carry machine vision that lets them recognize and track targets.

Ukraine squeezes more defense out of Soviet-era stock, pairing Kub launcher and American RIM-7 interceptors to catch Russia’s jet-powered drones. The hybrid has already downed about 20 air targets.

International

Moldova pulls its border officers off Ukrainian soil again as Russian drones keep hitting crossings. “They will work on the territory of Moldova.” Moldovan Interior Minister Daniela Misail-Nikitin, on withdrawing border personnel from Ukraine.

Lithuania puts up to 100 soldiers on Kaliningrad border as officials brace for possible Russian mobilization. The move comes as Moscow rejects reports of a new call-up while Ukrainian officials warn Russia is preparing to expand its forces.

80% of Moldovans say country is unprepared for attack as Russian drones flow into its airspace, but few back NATO membership. A new poll shows widespread concern over Moldova’s ability to withstand an attack, even as only 4% of respondents see NATO membership as the answer. Russian drones have increasingly crossed Moldovan airspace in recent weeks.

Polish SIM cards found inside Russian drones in Poland, raising new questions over 2025 incursion. More than 30 Russian drones entered Polish airspace in September 2025, and some were found carrying Polish SIM cards, RMF24 reports.

German radar already guarding Ukraine is picked to spot ballistic missiles. Its maker just signed a new deal with Kyiv. Hensoldt and Kyiv will also study jointly operating a bigger radar, the TRL-4D LR, whose naval version reaches beyond 400 km.

Ukrainian drugmakers sold $114 million worth of medicines to Uzbekistan in six months. Now they may lose the right to sell there. That export cash keeps medicine prices low at home. Without it, drugs could get pricier for Ukrainian patients, a former regulator official says.

First time since 2018: NATO’s top military body went to Kyiv to study the war it may one day face. Military representatives of all 32 members heard the latest battlefield assessment from Ukraine’s command.

Humanitarian and social impact

Blackouts return to Kyiv as Russia prepares to freeze civilians over the winter. Russia is once again targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as winter approaches, threatening to leave civilians without power, heat, and water as Moscow ramps up its campaign to cripple the country’s critical systems.

Two 14-year-old boys killed by an explosive device in a field in Sumy Oblast. Residents are being warned that, in addition to constant Russian attacks, there is a risk of encountering explosive devices.

Russia kills 30 in strike on two passenger buses in Kramatorsk. Hours after the strike, the head of Donetsk Oblast ordered public transport in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk halted, saying Russia had made the buses a target.

A 3-year-old girl came to visit her aunt in Pryluky, Ukraine. By morning, a Russian missile had killed her grandmother and uncle. Zlatoslava is in hospital in Chernihiv. Her aunt, a police officer, was wounded in the strike.

22 killed in Russian missile strike on Pryluky, including five children. Rescuers have finished searching the rubble of the five-story apartment building a Russian missile hit yesterday morning, while residents were still asleep.

Ukraine is buying 135 mobile shelters for border crossings as Russian drones reach from the Danube to Poland. Regional recovery services have opened 10 tenders, one of them for shelters on the road to a crossing into Romania.

Oleksandr, Kyrylo and Serhii, all aged one, and eight-year-old Maksym were killed in Ukraine’s city by Russian strike on Putin’s birthday. A Russian missile flattened an apartment block in Pryluky.

Russia’s war on Ukrainian books: a second strike burns tens of thousands of a Kyiv publisher’s rebuilt titles. Knyholav lost new titles and reprints of books Russia had already burned in July.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine’s FM links Russian plague scare to history of cover-ups, from anthrax to Chornobyl and COVID-19. Russia’s handling of the suspected case fits a broader pattern of concealing information about dangerous incidents, Andrii Sybiha said.

Russia starts pouring more into war after Putin judged Alaska talks with US would bring no “acceptable” deal to end fighting — Bloomberg. Russia’s 2026 budget deficit has nearly doubled to more than $81 billion, as war spending blows past the original plan.

Russia’s war against Ukraine sends the bill to its own companies: bond defaults head for a 17-year high. The squeeze is spreading from small firms to Moscow’s own budget, which is running a record deficit to keep the war going.

Exclusives

What if Russia uses nuclear weapons? Can we say Ukraine brought peace to world? Norwegian professor who nominated Zelenskyy and Ukrainians for 2026 Nobel Peace Prize takes on tough questions. He explains why he thinks US President Donald Trump won't win the Nobel Peace Prize this year, and why Ukraine should.

Military

Ukraine says it struck plant making parts for Russian military aircraft engines—a Snizhne factory Russia has used since 2014. Ukraine's 413th Raid Regiment has released footage showing the strike on a facility that produces components for gas-turbine engines used in attack aircraft and combat helicopters.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine squeezes more defense out of Soviet-era stock, pairing Kub launcher and American RIM-7 interceptors to catch Russia’s jet-powered drones. The hybrid has already downed about 20 air targets.

Kalashnikov, Russia’s biggest small-arms maker, says it fills its entire 2026 arms contract on time with batch of 7.62mm Dragunov sniper rifle. Ukraine's Defense Intelligence said in February that nearly half of Kalashnikov's plants faced no sanctions from any coalition country.

German radar already guarding Ukraine is picked to spot ballistic missiles. Its maker just signed a new deal with Kyiv. Hensoldt and Kyiv will also study jointly operating a bigger radar, the TRL-4D LR, whose naval version reaches beyond 400 km.

Russia’s jet drones fly near 600 km/h now. Ukraine is building simulators for the 900 km/h ones it expects next. When a Russian jet drone and the drone chasing it move at the same speed, the pilot can barely tell the two apart—and the Russian models keep getting faster.

Ukraine finds US-made navigation sensor inside Russia’s new jet-powered drone. The PNI5GA sensor reduces gyroscope drift and improves the drone's autonomous navigation accuracy, according to Ukrainian intelligence.

International

First time since 2018: NATO’s top military body went to Kyiv to study the war it may one day face. Military representatives of all 32 members heard the latest battlefield assessment from Ukraine's command.

Latvia stops armed migrant push from Belarus, then loses border cameras to masked raiders hours later. The escorts threatened Latvian soldiers before the raiders slipped back to Belarus ahead of the border guards.

Humanitarian and social impact

Oleksandr, Kyrylo and Serhii, all aged one, and eight-year-old Maksym were killed in Ukraine’s city by Russian strike on Putin’s birthday. A Russian missile flattened an apartment block in Pryluky.

14 dead in Pryluky, two each in Kyiv, Kremenchuk, and Oleksandriia: Russia’s night of 70 missiles. Five children were among the 26 people injured when a missile collapsed part of a five-story building.

Russia’s war on Ukrainian books: a second strike burns tens of thousands of a Kyiv publisher’s rebuilt titles. Knyholav lost new titles and reprints of books Russia had already burned in July.

Ukraine adds Kyiv trains, prepares pontoon crossings after Russian bridge attacks. Emergency pontoon crossings could take up to three months to build, Ukraine's Minister for Restoration, Infrastructure and Transport says.

Political and legal developments

Russia starts pouring more into war after Putin judged Alaska talks with US would bring no “acceptable” deal to end fighting — Bloomberg. Russia's 2026 budget deficit has nearly doubled to more than $81 billion, as war spending blows past the original plan.

Russia’s war against Ukraine sends the bill to its own companies: bond defaults head for a 17-year high. The squeeze is spreading from small firms to Moscow's own budget, which is running a record deficit to keep the war going.

New developments

Ukrainian drugmakers sold $114 million worth of medicines to Uzbekistan in six months. Now they may lose the right to sell there. That export cash keeps medicine prices low at home. Without it, drugs could get pricier for Ukrainian patients, a former regulator official says.

Taliban and North Korea rubbed shoulders at Russia’s war games—one fuels Moscow’s war, the other needs its help. Two isolated governments in Russia's orbit turned up at the same drills—though only Kabul has said they met.

25-year-old Natalia, born in Russia, served in the Israeli army, returned to Ukraine during the full-scale invasion, and join the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian society is not yet ready for the mandatory mobilization of women into the military, she believes.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

What if Russia uses nuclear weapons? Can we say Ukraine brought peace to world? Norwegian professor who nominated Zelenskyy and Ukrainians for 2026 Nobel Peace Prize takes on tough questions. He explains why he thinks US President Donald Trump won't win the Nobel Peace Prize this year, and why Ukraine should.

Military

Ukrainian units hit record number of Russian air defense systems and radars in September, one of them 552 kilometers away. Every result is recorded on video in the Delta battlefield system.

At ruined Donetsk’s airport, three Russians snap selfies and ready jet-powered Geran-4. Ukrainian drone slips in unseen and rams their launcher. The pickup truck was converted to launch Russian drones.

Ukraine’s drone pilots hit 76.5% more Russian infantry than two months ago: 2,699 in first five days of October. Commander Robert Brovdi says the pilots count only losses verified in the military's Delta system, so the real toll is higher.

Ukraine’s battlefield gains may be pushing Putin to shift focus to early winter strikes, ISW says. Russia is likely starting its recurring winter campaign earlier than usual while Ukraine is still developing defenses against the ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones being used in increasingly large strike packages.

The tanks that fuel Moscow’s airliners are reported burning after Ukraine’s latest drone raid on the capital region. Footage geolocated by OSINT analysts placed the blaze at the Volodarskaya station, part of Russia's state pipeline network.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine’s war leadership sets new electronic warfare tasks as Russia’s jet-powered drones slip past nearly half of its air defenses. Zelenskyy said the main criterion is that Ukraine must be able to respond in kind to Russian strikes.

Ukraine is third in world for cyberattacks after US and Israel, and first in Europe. Machine-speed assaults run continuously and without fatigue. Malware accounts for 33% of incidents in the first half of 2026, and system compromises for 4.5%.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says some suppliers cannot build weapons ordered, and drops contracts to free $346 million for front. Technology and tactics change quickly, the ministry says, and some weapons no longer match combat tasks.

Proven on Ukraine’s front line, now made in Germany. National Guard signs for the Linza and Zoom drones. The German-Ukrainian venture Quantum Frontline Industries will build both systems and is scaling up as its first production year wraps up.

Türkiye’s Korkut guns now shoot down Russian drones over Ukraine. Almost half of the jet-powered Shaheds still get through. Russia launched about as many of the fast ones as slow ones in September, by one analyst's count, and its winter assault on the power grid is still ahead.

International

Seoul backs Ukraine, but sanctioned tankers carried fuel from South Korea to Russia. The trade could cast Seoul as a gap in the West's effort to squeeze Moscow, the Guardian said.

Russia is out to break Ukraine’s economy this winter, Jetten says—and the Netherlands will help keep Ukraine’s drone-hunting F-16s in the air. Ukraine is finding ammunition for its F-16s “virtually all over the world,” Zelenskyy said on 5 October.

Humanitarian and social impact

Three ambulances hit, a woman killed at home: 25 minutes of Russian drone attacks on Kramatorsk. The strikes on medical vehicles and a high-rise are now under investigation as war crimes.

Ukraine’s civilian casualties 55% higher in first eight months than in the same period in 2025, UN says. Strikes on energy facilities and businesses have surged, while damage to power plants is causing outages as winter approaches.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine cuts more than 4,000 vacant government posts and trims deputy ministers by about 20% in the first stage of civil service reform. Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi says the number of deputies will be tied to how much work each office carries.

New developments

Germany accuses Russia of a drone bomb attempt at Leipzig. Now its eight biggest airports get drone detection. The air traffic controller's system spots drones in approach and departure paths and alerts the police, who remain responsible for stopping them.

Two ships sunk and a third set ablaze off NATO coasts in two days, and neither Bucharest nor Sofia will say “Russia”. Romania and Bulgaria have described the attacks only as drone strikes, without saying where the drones came from.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

What if Russia uses nuclear weapons? Can we say Ukraine brought peace to world? Norwegian professor who nominated Zelenskyy and Ukrainians for 2026 Nobel Peace Prize takes on tough questions. He explains why he thinks US President Donald Trump won't win the Nobel Peace Prize this year, and why Ukraine should.

A Nobel laureate’s deal: free Russia’s prisoners, fund the missiles hitting Ukraine. The laureate is Dmitry Muratov, and the deal he urged on Washington would lift sanctions on Russia's war economy in exchange for releasing the very dissidents the Kremlin jailed.

Ukraine fired its first FP-7 ballistic missile in combat. Its maker says next version will do what Ukraine needed since 2022. Zelensky announced the launch on 1 October without naming the target, and wrote that production comes next.

Ukraine keeps finding ways to replace its MiG-29s. It’s running out of MiG-29s to find. The latest loss came Thursday, when Capt. Marat Mambetov, 25, ejected after a Russian missile hit his jet on a strike mission but did not survive.

Military

Ukraine says its strikes have knocked out more than 51% of Russia’s oil refining capacity. Production and procurement of Ukraine's long-range strike drones tripled this year, and the Defense Ministry plans to scale them further.

Intelligence and technology

From making interceptors to guarding sky: Ukrainian drone maker gets its own private air defense unit and will pay for it from weapon sales. The company says its Night Hornets unit has downed more than 50 Shaheds.

Ukraine wants to aim Starlink at Russian targets—and build a version Elon Musk can’t switch off. The reason, Zelenskyy says: China and others will soon share comparable satellite technology with Moscow.

Ukraine’s answer to Russia’s jet-powered Shaheds: a small new missile named Nika, heading into testing. Russian jet-powered drones slip past Ukraine's defenses far more often than the older, propeller-driven models.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia burned 628,000 new school textbooks in Kharkiv at the peak of back-to-school season. They sat in Ranok's warehouse, built on the site of a former bread factory, with millions of other books. Firefighters fought the blaze for a week.

First ton-scale drone lifeline: Ukraine flies 4 more tons of aid into a starving Russian-occupied town of Oleshky. Ukraine is using repeated, ton-scale drone deliveries to bring food and medicine to civilians in an occupied town where food cannot get in and Russian forces are taking supplies from residents.

Ukraine demines over 1,300 hectares in September. Now, it has new plan to tackle 132,000 km². Ukraine's Defense Ministry demined 1,347 hectares of liberated land in September, a fraction of the territory that makes it the world's most mined country.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Ukraine is now sending its tanks into battle with drone escorts: they can drive into a Russian kill zone and come back alive. The 475th Assault Regiment, short of infantry, was clearing Russian infiltrators out of Vilkhuvatka, a Kharkiv Oblast village 9 km from the Russian border, and its hedgehog tanks took repeated hits on the way to point-blank range.

Military

Russia repeatedly attacks bridge connecting Kyiv's two sides across the Dnipro river, disrupting transport across the capital. The Southern Bridge has come under repeated Russian drone attacks since 1 October, forcing transport restrictions as Russia steps up daily attacks with jet-powered Geran drones.

Russia paid with more than 46,000 casualties, and the front moved the other way, ISW finds. September ended with a net Russian territorial loss, the think tank says.

Drones hit Russia's Volgograd and Samara overnight—fires near a Lukoil refinery, a chemical plant, and likely Europe's largest oil tank farm in Samara. The Samara station blends crude from four trunk pipelines into Urals, Russia's flagship export grade.

Spain, Belgium, and Poland are sending Ukraine F-16 cannon rounds to fight Russia's jet drones. A much larger 20-mm package may follow, and Kyiv is also negotiating with private manufacturers.

Russia lost 2026-record 46,230 troops in September by Ukraine's count, as fighting around Donetsk fortress cities grinds on. At the same time, Russia's strikes on Ukraine's rear escalated in September and are climbing again in October.

Belgium will send three F-16 fighter jets, but maintenance delays may keep Ukraine from using them. The likely reason is the lengthy maintenance process, which may keep many of the jets from shooting down Russian drones and cruise missiles attacking Ukraine.

Ukraine is downing Russia's fastest drones—just not often enough, and scaling up comes down to money. Russia's jet drones outrun the cheap interceptors Ukraine built for slower Shaheds, pushing Kyiv to field new hardware that works in combat but can't yet be made in the numbers its skies demand.

Russia just accidentally crashed its first Tu-95 bomber in 11 years. Its missiles will keep striking Ukraine anyway. It is out of production and Russia's bomber fleet keeps shrinking, but a raid on 8 September needed just six bombers, and Russia still has around a hundred.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine turned ground robots into a frontline workhorse. Its first competitive tender may reward cheap copies over proven machines, an officer warns. Kyiv opened its first competitive tender for logistics and strike robots—a model a frontline officer warns rewards the cheapest compliant bid and could favor cheap copies over proven machines.

Ukrainian firm fields 11 crewless boats and eight drones at NATO's biggest naval drone drill. UFORCE's crews acted as both attacker and defender at the REPMUS 26 drills, where Portugal's president came to inspect one of the company's boats on the dock.

Ukraine's former defense minister, dismissed suddenly, has announced Army of Robots. He says target is $10,000 per unit and need is tens of thousands. His "Army of Robots" would have machines carry ammunition, pull out the wounded, clear mines, and hold positions, the roles that cost soldiers their lives.

Europe wants drones that actually work in war, so Ukrainian maker is moving in to build them in Belgium and Luxembourg. TAF Industries and Luxembourg's LUXUAV signed a memorandum to develop and field drones.

Ukraine solves riddle of metal "whiskers" on new Russia's drones. They aren't clever sensor. The metal prongs appearing on Russian strike drones are a mechanical contact detonator.

Robots won't replace armored vehicles, says Ukrainian company that builds both. It reveals one job they can't do. Ukraine ran 100,000 robot missions this year.

International

Russia retaliates after Hungary expels 10 diplomats, deepening Budapest-Moscow rift since Orbán's ouster. The diplomatic tit-for-tat comes as Hungary's new government takes a markedly different approach to Russia and Ukraine from Viktor Orbán's 16-year tenure.

Sanctions keep catching Russia's gas tankers, so Moscow is building new ones, UK says. Britain unveiled 31 new sanctions, aiming to squeeze Moscow's finances before winter sets in.

Ukraine's steel output fell 57% and may hit zero next month. Expert says saving it comes down to four steps, and they're Brussels' to make. Steel is Ukraine's second-largest foreign-currency earner, employing more than 70,000 people directly and another 250,000 in related industries.

Moscow's message to European business: your Russian assets are now leverage against your governments. ISW expects decisions on which firms to seize to depend entirely on Russia's relations with each company's home country.

There is no risk of Russia using nuclear weapons against the Baltics, Rutte assures. Rutte's assessment comes as Moscow warns the alliance that isolating Kaliningrad could trigger a nuclear response.

The US has until 18 October to choose its Russia sanctions targets—if any. Kyiv's wish list leads with the firms feeding Russia's Starlink clone. At the top: Russian firms making parts for Moscow's Starlink rival, still untouched by US sanctions.

Humanitarian and social impact

41 Ukrainians made the long journey from occupation to Ukrainian-controlled territory after enduring Russian pressure, detention and control. Four children and five teenagers were among those who returned to Ukraine in August and September through a route via Belarus.

Ukrainian grandmother detained in Kazakhstan at Russia's request while trying to bring grandson back to Ukraine. Russia used the Russia-led CSTO to pursue the Ukrainian citizen beyond its borders, triggering her detention in Kazakhstan and potentially exposing her to deportation to Russia.

A school with children, a café, warehouses: Russia's drones hit civilian Kyiv again. More than 100 students and about 60 staff were in the school's shelter when a Russian drone hit the building. All came through unharmed, as fires burned across two Kyiv districts.

Russian glide bombs scarred a statue of Christ and damaged a 19th-century church in Sumy. The same strike hit a school where children were sheltering and nearby homes, where two people were killed and six injured, three of them children.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine files a minority-schooling bill, and Hungary agrees to unblock two of its EU-accession clusters. The Rada plans to vote on 12 October, and under the deal, Hungary is to stop blocking two EU-accession clusters once the bill is law.

Russia's 2026 deficit nearly doubles to a record $88 billion, and its new budget plans three more years in the red. The draft sent to the Duma still gives the military its biggest budget since the full-scale invasion began.

Two rubles for the army for every one on welfare, schools, and hospitals: Russia's 2027 wartime budget. Civilian spending is set to fall to about 9% of GDP, a level not seen since 2005.

Read our previous daily review here.

Exclusive

Ukraine is now sending its tanks into battle with drone escorts: they can drive into a Russian kill zone and come back alive. The 475th Assault Regiment, short of infantry, was clearing Russian infiltrators out of Vilkhuvatka, a Kharkiv Oblast village 9 km from the Russian border, and its hedgehog tanks took repeated hits on the way to point-blank range.

When Kremlin energy talking points come with an Oxford address. Russian energy disinformation does not always look like propaganda. Sometimes it presents itself in the form of expert analysis, a policy advisor, or technical commentary inside Europe's energy debate, and that is exactly what makes this new form of influence worth examining.

Military

Russia lost 2026-record 46,230 troops in September by Ukraine's count, as fighting around Donetsk fortress cities grinds on. At the same time, Russia's strikes on Ukraine's rear escalated in September and are climbing again in October.

Intelligence and technology

Europe wants drones that actually work in war, so Ukrainian maker is moving in to build them in Belgium and Luxembourg. TAF Industries and Luxembourg's LUXUAV signed a memorandum to develop and field drones.

Ukraine solves riddle of metal "whiskers" on new Russia's drones. They aren't clever sensor. The metal prongs appearing on Russian strike drones are a mechanical contact detonator.

Belgium will send three F-16 fighter jets, but maintenance delays may keep Ukraine from using them. The likely reason is the lengthy maintenance process, which may keep many of the jets from shooting down Russian drones and cruise missiles attacking Ukraine.

Ukraine is downing Russia's fastest drones—just not often enough, and scaling up comes down to money. Russia's jet drones outrun the cheap interceptors Ukraine built for slower Shaheds, pushing Kyiv to field new hardware that works in combat but can't yet be made in the numbers its skies demand.

Russia just accidentally crashed its first Tu-95 bomber in 11 years. Its missiles will keep striking Ukraine anyway. It is out of production and Russia's bomber fleet keeps shrinking, but a raid on 8 September needed just six bombers, and Russia still has around a hundred.

Robots won't replace armored vehicles, says Ukrainian company that builds both. It reveals one job they can't do. Ukraine ran 100,000 robot missions this year.

International

There is no risk of Russia using nuclear weapons against the Baltics, Rutte assures. Rutte's assessment comes as Moscow warns the alliance that isolating Kaliningrad could trigger a nuclear response.

Ukraine's training facilities get boost: EU is funding centers where its army prepares soldiers, with Denmark putting in €33 million. Several training centers inside Ukraine will be upgraded.

Humanitarian and social impact

A school with children, a café, warehouses: Russia's drones hit civilian Kyiv again. More than 100 students and about 60 staff were in the school's shelter when a Russian drone hit the building. All came through unharmed, as fires burned across two Kyiv districts.

Russian glide bombs scarred a statue of Christ and damaged a 19th-century church in Sumy. The same strike hit a school where children were sheltering and nearby homes, where two people were killed and six injured, three of them children.

Political and legal developments

Russia's 2026 deficit nearly doubles to a record $88 billion, and its new budget plans three more years in the red. The draft sent to the Duma still gives the military its biggest budget since the full-scale invasion began.

Two rubles for the army for every one on welfare, schools, and hospitals: Russia's 2027 wartime budget. Civilian spending is set to fall to about 9% of GDP, a level not seen since 2005.

Moscow's message to European business: your Russian assets are now leverage against your governments. ISW expects decisions on which firms to seize to depend entirely on Russia's relations with each company's home country.

The US has until 18 October to choose its Russia sanctions targets—if any. Kyiv's wish list leads with the firms feeding Russia's Starlink clone. At the top: Russian firms making parts for Moscow's Starlink rival, still untouched by US sanctions.

New developments

Ukraine's steel output fell 57% and may hit zero next month. Expert says saving it comes down to four steps, and they're Brussels' to make. Steel is Ukraine's second-largest foreign-currency earner, employing more than 70,000 people directly and another 250,000 in related industries.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

When Kremlin energy talking points come with an Oxford address. Russian energy disinformation does not always look like propaganda. Sometimes it presents itself in the form of expert analysis, a policy advisor, or technical commentary inside Europe's energy debate, and that is exactly what makes this new form of influence worth examining.

In Ukraine’s Vivaldi offensive, nobody rides in the BTR-60s. Bulgaria’s old troop carriers go into Russian bunkers packed with mines. Too thinly armored for infantry, 110 Bulgarian-donated BTR-60s now go into Russian bunkers near Lyman packed with anti-tank mines and nobody inside.

Europe and Ukraine already have the force to stop Russia. What’s missing is the alliance.. The war may reach Europe by 2027; NATO won't be ready until 2035. The fastest deterrent already exists: a declared alliance with Ukraine's combat-proven force.

Intelligence and technology

Russia is now wiring its attack drones into one network in flight, so a single drone can scout, strike, and relay for the rest. Chains of Russian drones keep crossing near the Belarus border, Ukraine's Air Force says.

Ukrainian combat simulator, used to train more than 500,000 troops, can now be ordered from NATO’s supply catalogs by single code. Each trainer assigned a 13-digit NATO Stock Number.

Russia adds new weapon to its jet-powered drones, even more dangerous: 40-kilogram charge made to sever high-voltage pylons and iron bridges. Russia opens a massed assault on the grid.

Ukraine’s new ground robot switches from land to water in seconds. It just ran its first supply mission, 40 kilometers to positions others can’t reach. A Ukrainian robot drives to the front, then swims.

Most drone interceptors ram or explode. This Ukrainian one just throws a net—six shots to a module. The Mangal launcher carries two cameras, picks out drones on its own, and mounts on a vehicle or a fixed post.

The EU sanctioned Russia’s Starlink rival but not the company that builds it. Experts call that the gap that matters. Ukraine can jam Russian drones into drifting off course—a satellite relay overhead would let them fly straight through the jamming and strike.

International

EU wants reforms before more money. Kyiv wants Europe to touch Russia’s frozen billions. The push comes as Ukraine seeks access to €210 billion in immobilized Russian central-bank assets to help cover its needs.

Russian drone explodes in Moldova, day after its opposition moves to suspend its pro-EU president. Analyst says that’s no coincidence.

Humanitarian and social impact

Ukraine brings 14 more children home from Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast. One of them was being forced onto Russia’s military rolls. This year's returns from the occupied south now reach 204.

Russia struck a school in Sumy with a 250-kilogram bomb while children in grades 1–4 were studying there. The bomb hit as about 40 children sheltered inside, one of many Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities and villages over the past 24 hours.

Kyiv’s supermarkets are the new front line as Russia hunts civilian life before winter. Officials say the Kremlin is blending drone strikes, sabotage, and bot-farm propaganda to break the capital before the cold arrives.

Russian troops seize drone-dropped food in occupied Oleshky, accusing recipients of cooperating with Ukraine. Some people go missing, a local official says. One family in Oleshky was taken "to the basement" and has since disappeared without a trace, an Oleshky official says.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

In Ukraine’s Vivaldi offensive, nobody rides in the BTR-60s. Bulgaria’s old troop carriers go into Russian bunkers packed with mines. Too thinly armored for infantry, 110 Bulgarian-donated BTR-60s now go into Russian bunkers near Lyman packed with anti-tank mines and nobody inside.

Europe and Ukraine already have the force to stop Russia. What’s missing is the alliance.. The war may reach Europe by 2027; NATO won't be ready until 2035. The fastest deterrent already exists: a declared alliance with Ukraine's combat-proven force.

Ukraine’s tanks are fighting from kilometers back. A 1960s Soviet model does that nearly as well. Ukraine captured more than 40 T-62Ms from Russia, mostly during the 2022 counteroffensives, and has not registered a confirmed combat loss since.

For years Ukraine could jam or switch off Russia’s battlefield comms. Rassvet may be the first it can’t. Sanctioning the firm behind Russia's Starlink won't stop it. It can make every satellite slower and costlier to build—and the clock is short.

Military

Russia drained the Kakhovka Reservoir. Now it hides in the dry bed to creep toward Zaporizhzhia. A frontline commander expects small Russian groups to slip into the city by winter. A leading analyst calls that far too categorical—and says the front is moving the other way.

Vivaldi counteroffensive advanced after Ukraine took Russia’s drones out of the fight, ISW assesses. Armored vehicles reached heavy Russian fortifications in the Lyman sector without coming under drone attack, which the analysts read as a sign of Ukrainian drone overmatch.

Russia’s mass drone attacks on Ukraine have a goal—likely Ukraine’s capitulation by spring 2027, ISW says. Until his new theory of victory has played out, Putin is unlikely to soften his demands or enter serious ceasefire talks, according to ISW.

Russia’s pipeline into Kupiansk is now its escape route—with kidnapped civilians as human shields, Ukraine says. Ukrainian drones filmed the column on 27 September. Khartia warned Russia could pass the footage off as an "evacuation" or "rescue" of civilians.

Ukraine makes local gains on Pokrovsk front despite sustained Russian attacks. The marines cleared 5 square kilometers and captured two Russian soldiers.

A Ukrainian Hornet drone hit a Russian radar 120 km behind the front. It was likely a $100 million Nebo-M. The strike is part of a push to cut Russian logistics and strip Russian forces of radar and electronic warfare systems, a brigade officer says.

Ukraine hits railways of Bryansk, Russia’s launchpad for strikes on Kyiv: downed bridge and 28 derailed cars, region’s governor says. Ukraine's drones reportedly hit the region's railways.

Intelligence and technology

Mavic vs Slavic: Ukrainian developers adapt reconnaissance drones to the modern battlefield. “The drone was developed as a Ukrainian alternative to Chinese commercial quadcopters,” Vyriy Industries said.

A Ukrainian firm now rents out drone jammers by the day—but the deposit is the device’s full price. The daily fee comes off a deposit worth the whole device—rent long enough and the jammer becomes yours.

Ukraine just caught a Geran-5 at 425 km/h—the jet drone that has often outrun Ukrainian interceptor drones since January. Ukrainian crews now stop just over half of Russia's jet-powered drones, against more than 90% of the older Shaheds, even as Moscow builds them by the thousand.

Russia is stepping up fake Ukrainian government pages as bait for recruiting agents, Ukraine’s security service says. Russian intelligence uses the counterfeits to spread disinformation and to harvest data on the Ukrainians who subscribe.

Russia is launching a faster Geran-5 at Ukraine that satellite jamming may no longer knock off course, a monitoring channel says. The drone can steer by images of the terrain below, and its extra speed makes it harder for interceptors to catch, though Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the system.

International

Russia ordered arson attack on Estonian military robot-maker supplying Ukraine, Estonia confirms. Estonia says its intelligence service established that Russia’s special services ordered the August fire at Milrem Robotics, as Russian sabotage operations spreads across Europe.

Belgium rushes three F-16s to Ukraine as Russia expands its drone and missile assault. Zelenskyy says the aircraft will arrive by the end of 2026, strengthening Ukraine’s ability to intercept Russian air targets and conduct combat missions.

Russian jet-powered drone hits near Yahodyn, just 1.5 km from Poland, as Warsaw changes air defense rules. Poland plans to allow decisions to engage aerial targets based on radar data.

Lithuania gets its US tank battalion back while the Pentagon weighs pulling up to 40,000 troops from Europe. The Lithuanian leader calls the decision an encouragement and says fewer American soldiers will remain on the continent overall.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russian troops enter homes and threaten starving Oleshky residents for food and alcohol, officials say. Residents who escaped the occupied Kherson Oblast city describe threats and abuse by Russian troops amid severe shortages of food, water, and medicine.

Russian mercenaries blew off African prisoners’ legs to practice battlefield medicine, Wagner fighter says. A Russian mercenary captured by Ukraine describes alleged Wagner training sessions where prisoners were deliberately maimed and killed so recruits could practice battlefield medicine and killing techniques.

Russia hits a Kharkiv high-rise overnight, injuring 43 people, then kills four in daylight strikes on central Kyiv and Dnipro. A pre-dawn strike on Ukraine's second city gave way to drone attacks on a business center and then a national science institution during working hours.

“Reminiscent of 11 September at World Trade Center”: Russia strikes Ukraine’s century-old National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv, people are climbing onto windows not to be buried alive

Political and legal developments

Russia raises its war budget by 27% and expands the army again – both to new records – even as its budget deficit widens and oil revenues fall. Moscow plans to spend a record 17.1 trillion rubles on defense in 2027 as it raises taxes and borrowing to cover a widening deficit.

The Kremlin calls mobilization talk “nonsense”—Zelenskyy says it has already begun, with North Korean reinforcements. The claim comes from Ukraine's military intelligence, which has tracked Russian preparations for a larger call-up for months.

War is costing Ukraine $155 billion per year. With Western aid running late, Kyiv is freezing everything but army, pensions, and public wages. Kyiv froze parks, fountains, and road repairs to pay its army and pensioners first.

After Russia hits Kyiv’s Academy of Sciences with jet-powered drone, the Kremlin says Ukraine must “pay a price”. Peskov calls Russia's intensified strikes part of that price.

Read our previous daily review here.

Exclusive

Ukraine’s tanks are fighting from kilometers back. A 1960s Soviet model does that nearly as well. Ukraine captured more than 40 T-62Ms from Russia, mostly during the 2022 counteroffensives, and has not registered a confirmed combat loss since.

Six minutes in March, two hours by August.Russia’s new satellite network may be the first comms system Ukraine can’t switch off. Sanctioning the firm behind Russia's Starlink won't stop it. It can make every satellite slower and costlier to build—and the clock is short.

Military

Ukraine makes local gains on Pokrovsk front despite sustained Russian attacks. The marines cleared 5 square kilometers and captured two Russian soldiers.

Ukraine hits railways of Bryansk, Russia’s launchpad for strikes on Kyiv: downed bridge and 28 derailed cars, region’s governor says. Ukraine's drones reportedly hit the region's railways.

Ukraine outfoxes Russia near Donetsk’s fortress belt with Soviet BTR-60s rebuilt as kamikaze robots, storms a key hub and takes 250 Russian prisoners. Russia burned its reserves on a feint while the 3rd Army Corps took Nove, closing Vivaldi's decisive third season, its commander says.

Ukraine hits two fuel depots in Krasnodar Krai, southern Russia, in one night—both wholesale diesel and gasoline. Residents of Novotitarovskaya, 25 km from Krasnodar, reported at least six explosions near the railway before the fires started..

Intelligence and technology

A Ukrainian Hornet drone hit a Russian radar 120 km behind the front. It was likely a $100 million Nebo-M. The strike is part of a push to cut Russian logistics and strip Russian forces of radar and electronic warfare systems, a brigade officer says.

Russia is launching a faster Geran-5 at Ukraine that satellite jamming may no longer knock off course, a monitoring channel says. The drone can steer by images of the terrain below, and its extra speed makes it harder for interceptors to catch, though Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the system.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia’s pipeline into Kupiansk is now its escape route—with kidnapped civilians as human shields, Ukraine says. Ukrainian drones filmed the column on 27 September. Khartia warned Russia could pass the footage off as an "evacuation" or "rescue" of civilians.

Russia hits a Kharkiv high-rise overnight, injuring 43 people, then kills four in daylight strikes on central Kyiv and Dnipro. A pre-dawn strike on Ukraine's second city gave way to drone attacks on a business center and then a national science institution during working hours.

“Reminiscent of 11 September at World Trade Center”: Russia strikes Ukraine’s century-old National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv, people are climbing onto windows not to be buried alive.

Ukraine’s disclosure of secret North Korean POW transfer sparks South Korea’s demand for an apology. Seoul says Kyiv broke a promise to keep the transfer of two North Korean soldiers quiet, and Kyiv says it never made one.

Political and legal developments

War is costing Ukraine $155 billion per year. With Western aid running late, Kyiv is freezing everything but army, pensions, and public wages. Kyiv froze parks, fountains, and road repairs to pay its army and pensioners first.

After Russia hits Kyiv’s Academy of Sciences with jet-powered drone, the Kremlin says Ukraine must “pay a price”. Peskov calls Russia's intensified strikes part of that price.

New developments

Russia’s mass drone attacks on Ukraine have a goal—likely Ukraine’s capitulation by spring 2027, ISW says. Until his new theory of victory has played out, Putin is unlikely to soften his demands or enter serious ceasefire talks, according to ISW.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Military

Ukraine destroys record 76 Russian air-defense systems this month, losses analyst says Russia "will never be able to restore". The 76 systems destroyed this month beat a record from July 2023.

Russia's air defenses can't protect all its strategic sites once Ukraine's ballistic missiles are ready, expert says. Russia's best interceptors cluster around the capital.

Intelligence and technology

Combat shows speed alone can't catch Russia's jet-powered drones, despite eight Ukrainian makers' assurances. So why can't they stop them?. Eight makers said their interceptors were ready last winter. They weren't.

Pentagon brings in Ukrainian jamming maker to do to its candidate drones what Russia does to Ukraine's, and see which survives. Unwave brought four electronic-warfare systems to a US base to jam the drones the Pentagon is choosing to buy.

War's next tech leap: Former Ukraine's defense minister behind "Army of Drones" is now creating new "Army of Robots". The architect of Ukraine's "Army of Drones" wants robots to do the deadliest work.

International

Asked if Ukraine would send troops to defend NATO, Zelenskyy offered something else: know-how to stop drones now reaching its neighbors. Zelenskyy says Ukraine will share its drone-defense experience with partners facing Russian attacks, NATO or not, through the Drone Deal pacts.

Built by Ukrainian officers from real combat, DWAC course is now "NATO Selected". It has trained officers from over 10 countries.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Military

They say Dobropillia is encircled, but they are actually 10+ km away: ISW publishes map disproving Russia's claim. Russia is using this to divert attention from its setbacks north of Lyman, the think tank says.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine's soldiers cracked problem US chased for 30 years. It went from idea to combat in 10 days.

A report says US intelligence warned France of Russian ship-launched drones. France denies it. The Spanish outlet El Mundo described explosive drones hidden on merchant ships. Italy called the alert unconfirmed. Spain and the CIA have not responded.

Seventeen makers head to Michigan to test bomber drones for the Pentagon, and Ukrainian firms are back in field, some under US partners. Seventeen companies, including Ukrainian firms and partners fielding their drones, will test bomber drones at Camp Grayling in October.

Ukraine's new military AI does more than watch the battlefield—it helps commanders plan what comes next. The Defense Ministry's AI center says its SPECTR system is already being tested by several combat units.

Ukraine is opening access to 5 million frames of real combat to 12 British weapons makers to train AI. Up to 12 British defense companies can train AI models on real battlefield data through Avengers Labs.

"Killing Ukraine's internet would take nuclear or chemical weapons"—MiroHost founder whose data center Russia just destroyed. Most critical Ukrainian data and systems are already in the cloud and abroad—destroying data centers in Kyiv cannot bring the country offline.

A bottle of flammable liquid in Poland, a nuclear option on a Russian wish-list—the hunt for Starlink widens. Strip Starlink from Ukraine and its army goes blind—the calculation driving a Russian proposal to knock the satellite network out by any means available.

Ukraine's Mirage had killed a cruise missile on its first combat sortie. France just sent more of the missiles that reach 80 km. France arms Ukraine's Mirages with MICA missiles and cannon ammo, tripling to quadrupling the jets' cruise missile engagement range.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine has agreed on a new Patriot interceptor package—won't say with whom. The president told the Ukrainian community in the US that a package of interceptor missiles for Patriot systems had been agreed, keeping the partner secret while calling it "an important decision."

International

ISW connects drone crashes in Moldova and Romania, a Starlink fire in Poland, and a Berlin airport shutdown into one Russian pattern. The institute connects drone crashes in Moldova and Romania, arson at a Polish Starlink station, and a Berlin airport shutdown into a single pattern of Russian pressure on European defense infrastructure.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia strikes second civilian ship in Black Sea in six days, killing both captains to choke route that carries 90 percent of Ukraine's farm exports. The attack set the vessel on fire and triggered a rescue operation for its surviving crew.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Two plants make 70% of Ukraine’s steel. Russia hit both. Then ports closed, rail costs rose 30%, and the EU’s carbon tax kicked in. The head of Ukraine's largest steel plant says the government needs a single rescue document with deadlines and assigned agencies, because each problem stalls when handled alone.

Military

For the 17th or 18th time, Putin promised to take Donetsk "in a few months" – Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy says Russia has spent nearly five years trying to seize Donetsk, suffering nearly 249,000 troops killed or severely wounded this year for only slightly more than 1,000 square kilometers of territorial gains.

He started as a driver. Now he pilots Ukraine's heavy strike drones. He started on the Vampire, then taught himself three more airframes, so when Russian jamming grounds one, he keeps flying on the next.

Russia strikes Kyiv with ballistic and hypersonic missiles, damaging maternity hospital amid US-led push for energy truce. US-led efforts to secure a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure are underway.

He swore to defend Ukraine, then switched to Russia when it seized Crimea. Twelve years later, Ukrainian FPV drone found him commanding Russian regiment. Colonel Oleksandr Isaiev, a Mykolaiv native who switched to Russia during the seizure of Crimea, died in an FPV drone strike.

Ukraine's Vivaldi counteroffensive near Lyman just got help from behind Russian lines: partisans say they cut rail supply to three Russian regiments, no explosion needed. ATESH says it disabled four relay cabinets in Voronezh Oblast, which helped a Russian operation in Donetsk Oblast.

Vivaldi erased Russia's Lyman pincer. Now Moscow is pushing toward Sloviansk instead. DeepState says Ukraine stopped one Russian approach to its fortified Donetsk cities. Moscow is pressing another.

Intelligence and technology

Russia spreads false encirclement claims from Dobropillia to Kharkiv — ISW. Russian bloggers claimed they could target Dobropillia's supply roads. Ukraine said its troops have kept the routes open.

Russian-linked software sold to US government as CEO allegedly hid Russian control – two now arrested. US prosecutors accuse Oxygen Forensics' CEO and a Russian national of concealing Russian ownership and software development while selling digital forensics tools to federal agencies.

Ukraine put robots where its soldiers used to die clearing mines—and lost none. Sent into kill zones too deadly for people, the machines clear paths, mine enemy routes, and evacuate the wounded.

OpenAI hands Ukraine a free AI system to guard its hospitals and power plants from hackers. It runs on its own, spotting flaws in Kyiv's networks and sealing them before intruders slip in, and arrives as Russia keeps striking the same targets by air.

Russia's sanctioned propaganda network Rybar freely roamed Schengen zone to shoot manipulative content. Czech journalists caught Rybar operatives posing as documentary filmmakers in Prague, who fled when confronted by reporters from Seznam Zprávy.

Russia fabricates Dobropillia encirclement to strengthen its case for Kyiv's capitulation at UN – ISW. Ukrainian officers describe active fighting around the Donetsk Oblast transport hub.

Year ago, only 12 Ukrainian brigades could order weapons online. Now, 500 units participate in revolutionary program that has delivered 1.3 million drones to front. DOT-Chain Defense lets frontline units order their own drones and gear.

Russia is mapping everyday targets across Kyiv, from trolleybus depots to Zhuliany airport, top monitoring channel says, ahead of ballistic strike. Meanwhile, Ukraine is racing to defend Kyiv against jet drones before winter.

Ukraine's new drone ferries FPV drones deep behind Russian lines and releases them there. It costs about $9,900 and does three other jobs too. The KARA can drop bombs, relay signals, ferry FPV drones to the front, or strike, and it is on sale on Ukraine's state marketplace.

A former US nuclear-sub commander, a Ukrainian fund, and a plan to shield Odesa with drone swarms. Ukraine can't fully export its weapons yet, but its battle-tested tech is so in demand that two Ukrainian players just went to Denmark.

Old American armor, new Ukrainian brain: Skelya regiment nears completion of M1117 unmanned conversion. The regiment's Innovation Center is finishing a project to remotely control an armored vehicle based on a chassis originally designed during the Vietnam War era.

International

EU approves nearly €3 billion for Ukraine as Kyiv meets more reform targets. The latest payment brings EU support under the Ukraine Facility to more than €32 billion, while Norway adds €92 million in non-repayable funding.

Russian attack puts three countries on alert as drones enter Moldova and Romania. Moldovan police preliminarily identified the drone that exploded beside a farm as a camera-equipped Gerbera, the first of its type found in the country.

Russia could launch limited attacks on NATO in coming months, escalating hybrid warfare without being ready for full-scale conflict, Denmark warns. Russia could launch limited attacks on NATO to divert European resources away from Ukraine and exploit divisions within the alliance, Denmark's defense intelligence service warns.

Russians guard Madagascar's parliament speaker as Moscow builds Indian Ocean foothold – RFE/RL. Russia also trains Madagascar's troops and may recruit workers for drones used against Ukraine.

Zelenskyy asks Japan for air-defense technology and offers Ukraine's drones in return, while courting Chile to expand Ukraine's reach in Latin America. Once dependent on donated weapons, Ukraine now trades its battle-tested drone expertise for the protection and partners it still can't supply itself.

Russia may target southern Europe with drones launched from merchant ships—El Mundo. The drones' small explosive payloads could temporarily close airports or ports without causing widespread destruction, the outlet says.

A fresh $42 million, new sanctions, and a seat in the coalition rebuilding Ukraine's Navy. Australia just signed its long-term security pact with Ukraine. The pact bundles weapons, energy, and humanitarian aid, widens sanctions to nearly 1,900 measures, and brings Canberra's total support to nearly $1.3 billion.

“Food must never be used as a weapon”: EU calls for Black Sea attack moratorium. The push comes as attacks have made the route increasingly dangerous and costly for commercial shipping, threatening a key trade lifeline for Ukraine and a major source of food for global markets.

Humanitarian and social impact

Eight months of 2026 brought more Ukrainian civilian casualties than all of last year, UN says. A senior UN official told the Security Council the toll is worsening as strikes reach cities far from the front, with a dark winter ahead.

Political and legal developments

Croatia approves Ukrainian Nord Stream suspect's extradition to Germany despite Polish refusal. The diver's lawyers plan to appeal in Croatia and international courts, while Zhuravliov plans to announce an indefinite hunger strike.

Read our previous daily review here.

Exclusive

Two plants make 70% of Ukraine's steel. Russia hit both. Then ports closed, rail costs rose 30%, and the EU's carbon tax kicked in. The head of Ukraine's largest steel plant says the government needs a single rescue document with deadlines and assigned agencies, because each problem stalls when handled alone.

Vivaldi's secret weapon was the targeting, not the robots: Third Corps reconnaissance mapped Russian command nodes, then hit them to cause panic. The officer said disrupting command and communications was one of the tasks set directly by the corps commander, with brigade and corps intelligence identifying the areas to strike.

Ukraine's chief prosecutor fled. Politicians still choose the man who can prosecute them.. He is only the latest prosecutor general to leave the office in disgrace, and the office is the reason.

Military

Russia fabricates Dobropillia encirclement to strengthen its case for Kyiv's capitulation at UN – ISW. Ukrainian officers describe active fighting around the Donetsk Oblast transport hub.

Russia is mapping everyday targets across Kyiv, from trolleybus depots to Zhuliany airport, top monitoring channel says, ahead of next ballistic strike. Meanwhile, Ukraine is racing to defend Kyiv against jet drones before winter.

He swore to defend Ukraine, then switched to Russia when it seized Crimea. Twelve years later, Ukrainian FPV drone found him commanding Russian regiment. Colonel Oleksandr Isaiev, a Mykolaiv native who switched to Russia during the seizure of Crimea, died in an FPV drone strike.

Ukraine's Vivaldi counteroffensive near Lyman just got help from behind Russian lines: partisans say they cut rail supply to three Russian regiments, no explosion needed. ATESH says it disabled four relay cabinets in Voronezh Oblast, which helped a Russian operation in Donetsk Oblast.

Vivaldi erased Russia's Lyman pincer. Now Moscow is pushing toward Sloviansk instead. DeepState says Ukraine stopped one Russian approach to its fortified Donetsk cities. Moscow is pressing another.

Foreign volunteers retrain as drone operators as Ukraine's battlefield changes. Some of the Western volunteers who came to Ukraine to fight on the ground are now learning to operate FPV drones as unmanned systems take on a growing role in combat.

Intelligence and technology

Year ago, only 12 Ukrainian brigades could order weapons online. Now, 500 units participate in revolutionary program that has delivered 1.3 million drones to front. DOT-Chain Defense lets frontline units order their own drones and gear.

Ukraine's new drone ferries FPV drones deep behind Russian lines and releases them there. It costs about $9,900 and does three other jobs too. The KARA can drop bombs, relay signals, ferry FPV drones to the front, or strike, and it is on sale on Ukraine's state marketplace.

A former US nuclear-sub commander, a Ukrainian fund, and a plan to shield Odesa with drone swarms. Ukraine can't fully export its weapons yet — but its battle-tested tech is so in demand that two Ukrainian players just went to Denmark.

Old American armor, new Ukrainian brain: Skelya regiment nears completion of M1117 unmanned conversion. The regiment's Innovation Center is finishing a project to remotely control an armored vehicle based on a chassis originally designed during the Vietnam War era.

Strike copters lead Ukraine's 650 new military drone approvals—jam-proof and interceptor models close behind. By July, Ukraine's drone approval tally was running more than 30% ahead of last year, with the count reaching 650 by September.

International

Europe is overreacting to Russian threats, Finland's president says—his intelligence sees no imminent danger. Stubb says the main goal of Russian sabotage abroad is to spread panic so that partners provide less support to Ukraine.

Humanitarian and social impact

"Food must never be used as a weapon": EU calls for Black Sea attack moratorium. The push comes as attacks have made the route increasingly dangerous and costly for commercial shipping, threatening a key trade lifeline for Ukraine and a major source of food for global markets.

Russia is spending jet-powered drones on Ukraine's toilet-paper factory. It's same campaign that has destroyed 2.1 million square meters of Ukraine's warehouses. Snow Panda, a maker of toilet paper and wipes, lost its warehouse to a second Russian strike, months after a missile hit its main hub and injured workers.

Political and legal developments

$16 bn or lives of Ukrainians: Kyiv is furious after EU took two of Russia's richest men off its sanctions list. Usmanov and Fridman were dropped over a prisoner deal and a $16bn lawsuit.

New developments

Russia's sanctioned propaganda network Rybar freely roamed Schengen zone to shoot manipulative content. Czech journalists caught Rybar operatives posing as documentary filmmakers in Prague—they fled when confronted by reporters from Seznam Zprávy.

Explosives found meters from the drone that crashed near a Bundeswehr air base—investigators say it matches the GRU's Leipzig attack devices. The federal prosecutor and Germany's criminal police have taken over the case, and the drone may have been near the A400M transport fleet hub for up to two years.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Ukraine's chief prosecutor fled. Politicians still choose the man who can prosecute them.. He is only the latest prosecutor general to leave the office in disgrace, and the office is the reason.

Military

Ukraine's Donetsk counteroffensive wins not by force but by stealth: it gathers troops under Russian nose and seizes two villages before they react. A 60th Brigade captain says a concealed buildup near Derylove and Drobysheve, and precisely timed strikes, let his units move in before Russia responded.

Ukraine shoots down Russian drones by hundred thousand: 350,000 this year, filmed and verified hit by hit in DELTA. The tally dwarfs what NATO manages against a handful of Russian drones.

300 Russian shadow fleet ships disabled in 11 weeks—the Azov Sea is at a standstill, Ukrainian drone force commander says. The milestone marks a jump from the 201 reported in late July, though the pace has slowed as shipping traffic in the strike zone thinned out.

Russia is holding Ukraine's south with convicts: 69 percent have records. And they're fighting where civilians live. A third enlisted to escape prosecution, most are over 30, Ukraine's South grouping says.

Ukraine shut down this Samara refinery in June—now its drones are back, and both distillation units are burning again. The Kuibyshev plant had barely restarted when FP-1 drones struck its AVT-4 and AVT-5 installations overnight, and by morning smoke covered the oblast.

Intelligence and technology

Arms makers in Ukraine sign first 26 deals in program that lets them lease equipment for 5% of cost, with state paying other 95%. The state covers all but 5% of the cost, and the first 26 deals have been signed to help producers buy equipment and expand quickly.

Ukraine's new interceptor drone moves toward mass production after first kills against jet-powered Russian drones that fly like cruise missiles. The push comes as faster Russian drones can cut Ukrainian mobile fire groups' reaction time from about a minute to as little as six seconds.

Danish defense startup guarding undersea cables runs on 15 Ukrainian suppliers. Ukrainian fund is putting in €2 million in it. BlueShadow, run by a former US Navy sub commander but engineered in Ukraine, is building drone defenses for coasts and undersea cables.

International

Ukraine offers Russia deal: stop hitting our power, and we stop hitting yours. US will pass it to Moscow. The US will pass Ukraine's mutual energy-truce offer to Russia and has made no unilateral demands of Kyiv to stop striking Russia.

NATO's top generals meet in Copenhagen with Ukraine at top of agenda, as warnings grow that Russia may strike Alliance next. The Alliance's Military Committee reaffirmed support for Kyiv and named Germany's Carsten Breuer its next chair, as its chief warned of Russia's "reckless behaviour."

Germany cut Russian gas after 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Now, its far-right AfD party is in talks with Gazprom to bring it back, and Kremlin welcomes decision. Its foreign-policy speaker met Gazprom's chief in Moscow to discuss resuming supplies.

Last September, Poland downed four of 19 Russian drones. This September, drone reached NATO's missile shield in Redzikowo, and troops guarding it called 112. The military did not shoot it down near Redzikowo, and the ministry won't say whether it tried, reviving doubts about Poland's drone defenses.

Trump announced a "massive" potash deal with Belarus—Lukashenka said the same day there is no spare potash to sell. The US President touted cheaper Belarusian fertilizer as a win for American farmers, but Minsk said every ton is already spoken for.

Moldova counted 39 Russian drone incursions in eight months, against 17 in all of 2025. Its president says three decades without air defense cannot be undone in five years.

Trump demanded Zelenskyy stop hitting Russian refineries—for the second time in a week. Two months ago Trump called the same strikes an escalation that could end the war—now he wants them stopped because of diesel prices.

Humanitarian and social impact

Egypt shifts wheat purchases away from Russia and Ukraine as Black Sea trade costs rise. Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks on each other's commercial shipping since July, raising war-risk costs and disrupting key grain routes across the Black Sea.

Russia militarizes children from kindergarten to drone training in occupied Ukraine, monitor says. The pipeline starts in kindergarten and runs through military games, cadet classes, and drone training—and the numbers dwarf what Yunarmia alone shows, a new monitor series reveals.

Born in the USSR, claimed stateless in Finland, fighting for Ukraine—now jailed in Russia. Burkina Faso's Russia-backed junta seized him in Ouagadougou and handed him secretly to Russia, where Moscow's Basmanny Court—the tribunal used for politically sensitive cases—sealed his verdict.

New developments

Russia's mercenaries brought a Ukraine-war drone to Mali. It came down near al-Qaeda's fighters. Cornered for over a week near Dioura, the Africa Corps fired the Russian drone at al-Qaeda-linked fighters as it broke out—then the fighters downed it, a monitoring account says.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Europe gave Russia years to perfect its aerial killing. Ukraine is paying the price. Europe may be next.. Russia has spent four years adapting its drones, missiles and tactics against Ukraine. As Russian attacks become harder to stop, Ukrainian civilians are paying the price – while Europe is increasingly worried about a threat it has had years to prepare for.

"A warning to companies that remain": Russia takes control of Nestlé and Auchan's assets – companies that stayed in Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The companies had been warned that remaining in Russia could expose their investments to seizure as the Kremlin increasingly uses foreign-owned businesses as leverage. B4Ukraine says companies should leave while they still can.

Military

Russia has warned its cities about every strike for years. During the heaviest raid yet, on election day, it left the sirens silent. The backlash came even from Russia's own pro-war bloggers, as a major Moscow refinery burned on the final day of voting.

Ukraine is saving Donetsk Oblast with world's first-of-its-kind operation: Vivaldi counteroffensive drops robots directly from heavy bombers 10 kilometers behind Russian lines. Heavy drones delivered the robots more than 10 kilometers into the Russian rear during Operation Vivaldi near Lyman.

Intelligence and technology

Russia's threat isn't better missile, it's 14,000 cheap ones. Its new deadly weapon was built in early 1990s, experts say. The cheap, air-launched Dan-T is built to be fired by the thousand, piling onto the drones and missiles already straining Ukraine's air defense.

Ukraine spent year ignoring one Russian drone-control tech, and now Geran-5 flies on it. President's adviser warns next one, from space, is worse. A Ukrainian adviser calls it a coming "small catastrophe"

Ukraine builds app to cut soldiers' paperwork. It has just saved them $40 million, mostly on fuel. The Pluses program in Army+ just added M-Tac as its 40th partner.

Russia's secret drone math: one Tatarstan plant could yield 28,000 more drone bodies a year. Leaked Rosatom documents describe a Tatarstan carbon fiber plant that could lift Russia's Shahed-type drone output 78% by 2029.

International

NATO would strike back if Russia attacks, Polish FM says he warned Moscow. The Polish foreign minister said the warning was intended to deter Russia from taking action that could trigger a wider conflict.

Warning sirens are going west: Russian jet-powered drones bring strikes closer to NATO country. Poland is expanding its warning-siren network as officials prepare for more Russian attacks near the border.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine says foreign defense suppliers owe country about $10.58 billion, including $1.7 billion already paid for goods delivered late or never at all. A $22,400 legal bill stands between Ukraine and $403 million owed by foreign arms suppliers.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Europe gave Russia years to perfect its aerial killing. Ukraine is paying the price. Europe may be next.. Russia has spent four years adapting its drones, missiles and tactics against Ukraine. As Russian attacks become harder to stop, Ukrainian civilians are paying the price – while Europe is increasingly worried about a threat it has had years to prepare for.

“A warning to companies that remain”: Russia takes control of Nestlé and Auchan’s assets – companies that stayed in Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The companies had been warned that remaining in Russia could expose their investments to seizure as the Kremlin increasingly uses foreign-owned businesses as leverage. B4Ukraine says companies should leave while they still can.

Military

Ukraine retakes ground in a region Russia has fought for years to capture. “Vivaldi” is only getting started but is already “one of the most important victories for Ukraine in 2026” Ukraine’s Third Army Corps says its counteroffensive has retaken three settlements and 50 square kilometers of occupied territory in northern Donetsk, potentially delaying Russia’s planned offensive in the northern Donbas.

Ukraine’s long-range strikes reach Moscow’s fuel supply as Russia votes in State Duma elections A Ukrainian strike damaged the Moscow Oil Refinery, a major fuel supplier for the capital and surrounding region, as Russia held the second day of its State Duma elections.

Ukraine’s Vivaldi operation cleared 85 square kilometers near Lyman. A soldier who fought it says one thing was hardest of all Well-sited Russian defenders spot an assault group crossing open ground and fight it at a distance, he says.

Ukraine’s most effective units, Azov among them, need reinforcements. So National Guard is opening recruitment center aimed only at foreigners The center will send foreign volunteers into contract service as Ukraine leans on outside recruits to fill a manpower gap.

One machine handles 52% of a Russian oil plant—Ukrainian drones just hit it Satellite images show Ukrainian FP-1 drones hit the crude unit that handles 52% of Russia’s TANECO refinery, 1,200 km from Ukraine.

Drones hit Rostov-on-Don for the second straight night—OSINT monitors say the military airbase was likely the target again The local authorities confirmed more than 50 drones downed overnight but said nothing about the airfield where Ukraine reportedly destroyed three aircraft and three helicopters the previous night.

Ukraine’s snipers didn’t vanish in the drone war—their job changed beyond recognition Up to 154 pounds on their backs, weeks at one position, a thermal scope always running—modern sniping is far more watching than shooting.

Russia was sure the terrain made this village impossible to take—Ukraine walked in anyway Days of reconnaissance, drone strikes, and artillery went into the 66th Brigade’s push on Serednie. When the village fell, Russian channels called the liberation footage an AI fake.

Intelligence and technology

North Korea has fired around 150 ballistic missiles at Ukraine, learning from each one. Same missiles threaten Japan, and Kyiv just shows its speaker what is inside them The components come from a missile Russia fired at Ukraine, and Kyiv’s spies argue the same North Korean weapons threaten Japan too.

What are “S-300 Clone” and GAM-67 in America’s new $2.68 billion package for Ukraine? Experts think they have answer Labeled “S-300 Clone,” the new US missiles would reportedly let Ukraine keep its Soviet launchers firing.

Defender Media: Ukraine’s battle-tested drone makers reach no top slot in Pentagon’s $1.1 billion Drone Dominance program, but some Ukrainian technology wins anyway American firms took every top slot, but some Ukrainian tech won quietly under Western partners.

Russia is using inaccurate missiles that can miss by hundreds of meters to attack Ukrainian cities – and plans to scale them up Russia is increasingly using RM48U missiles originally designed as air-defense training targets to attack Ukraine. Their large margin of error makes them especially dangerous when fired at Ukrainian cities, where they can strike civilian areas far from any intended targets.

International

Ukraine and Hungary have a rare moment of cooperation, agreeing to build fuel storage beyond Russia’s reach The planned storage facilities in Hungary near the Ukrainian border will help Ukraine diversify fuel supplies as Russia continues attacking energy infrastructure.

At camp Norway built in Polish forest, NATO trainers admit Ukraine’s army now moves faster than their own Ukraine’s wartime tempo outpaces NATO armies, whose slow procurement Western trainers in Poland say Ukraine’s experience is exposing.

Russia plans ”accidental” drone strikes on NATO countries, Tusk says Tusk said the tactic could be used to test whether NATO would act if an attack on one of its members could be presented as a mistake.

EU pledges €3.3 billion for Ukraine, von der Leyen says “more is coming” as Russia’s escalating air war makes life in Ukrainian cities increasingly difficult The new funding comes as Ukraine appeals for more air defense to counter increasingly complex Russian attacks, including advanced missile and drone strikes on Kyiv.

Belarus holds military drills around the Suwalki Gap, NATO’s only land link to the Baltics Minsk says troops are guarding infrastructure, manning checkpoints, and practicing against saboteurs and drones. It has not disclosed the total number of personnel involved.

“What Ukraine needs right now”: Poland to provide Ukraine with scarce F-16 missiles to shoot down jet-powered drones The aid package will also include aviation equipment, Poland’s deputy defense minister says.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia has already destroyed more than two-fifths of Ukraine’s modern warehouse space as it escalates attacks on economic infrastructure – FT 2.1 million square meters of warehouse capacity have been destroyed as Russian strikes increasingly target the infrastructure Ukraine needs to store and move goods.

Russian e-commerce will lose $4.8 billion to the drone campaign against its warehouses, analysts estimate Analysts cut a whole year’s growth forecast for Russian online retail by a fifth, and blamed the strikes alone.

Thousands are starving in occupied Oleshky. People have no food, no way out, and Russian forces bomb incoming aid More than 6,000 people, including around 200 children, may remain trapped in the Russian-occupied city, where civilians lack food, water and medicine and some are risking mined fields to escape.

Russia’s war has devastated Donetsk Oblast, with losses already exceeding $26 billion The preliminary estimate covers destroyed industry, energy infrastructure, agriculture, transport, and other sectors, while much of the damage remains impossible to assess.

Russia kills captain of Tanzanian-flagged ship in latest attack on civilian shipping in Black Sea Russia has repeatedly attacked civilian shipping around Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, putting international crews and maritime trade at risk.

Political and legal developments

Russia paid a recruit to vandalize London mosques and make it look like a homegrown hate crime A Ukrainian man has pleaded guilty to the attacks. Direct Action UK, a fake British far-right group, then circulated images of the graffiti.

Stop arming Ukraine or we shut down your defense firms, pro-Kremlin group tells Latvia, Poland, and Portugal Latvia’s security service has opened a terrorism case and jailed one suspect, with the group’s deadline set for 7 October.

Read our previous daily review here.

Exclusives

“A warning to companies that remain”: Russia takes control of Nestlé and Auchan’s assets – companies that stayed in Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The companies had been warned that remaining in Russia could expose their investments to seizure as the Kremlin increasingly uses foreign-owned businesses as leverage. B4Ukraine says companies should leave while they still can.

“I can travel back to Finland and be safe. That is a luxury”: Sanna Marin on the Russian strike that stopped her train from Kyiv. The former Finnish prime minister has visited Ukraine around ten times since the full-scale invasion. This trip, she says, had more air-raid alarms than any of them, and a Russian drone hit the train travelling beside hers to the Polish border.

Military

Russia is using inaccurate missiles that can miss by hundreds of meters to attack Ukrainian cities — and plans to scale them up. Russia is increasingly using RM48U missiles originally designed as air-defense training targets to attack Ukraine. Their large margin of error makes them especially dangerous when fired at Ukrainian cities, where they can strike civilian areas far from any intended targets.

One machine handles 52% of a Russian oil plant—Ukrainian drones just hit it. Satellite images show Ukrainian FP-1 drones hit the crude unit that handles 52% of Russia's TANECO refinery, 1,200 km from Ukraine.

Drones hit Rostov-on-Don for the second straight night—OSINT monitors say the military airbase was likely the target again. The local authorities confirmed more than 50 drones downed overnight but said nothing about the airfield where Ukraine reportedly destroyed three aircraft and three helicopters the previous night.

Ukraine's snipers didn't vanish in the drone war—their job changed beyond recognition. Up to 154 pounds on their backs, weeks at one position, a thermal scope always running—modern sniping is far more watching than shooting.

Russia was sure the terrain made this village impossible to take—Ukraine walked in anyway. Days of reconnaissance, drone strikes, and artillery went into the 66th Brigade's push on Serednie. When the village fell, Russian channels called the liberation footage an AI fake.

Russian e-commerce will lose $4.8 billion to the drone campaign against its warehouses, analysts estimate. Analysts cut a whole year's growth forecast for Russian online retail by a fifth, and blamed the strikes alone.

Russia kills captain of Tanzanian-flagged ship in latest attack on civilian shipping in Black Sea. Russia has repeatedly attacked civilian shipping around Ukraine's Black Sea ports, putting international crews and maritime trade at risk.

No missiles intercepted again: Russia strikes Kyiv water infrastructure amid warnings of harsher winter attacks. Russia also struck residential areas in Odesa and Zaporizhzhia, injuring civilians and damaging homes and other civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine strikes two Russian S-400 launchers in Bryansk. The same systems were used to attack Kyiv overnight. Ukraine is increasingly targeting systems Russia uses to launch missiles at its cities as Kyiv faces shortages of high-end interceptors.

A fifth of Russian refining sits idle, and the sector's earnings still grew. The money is being made on prices and state compensation rather than on the volumes the front line actually needs.

One pincer stalled a year ago, the other has just been broken near Kostiantynivka—Russia's ring will not close, Ukrainian commander says. Frontal assaults on fortified cities cost far more men and time than closing a ring behind them would have.

Intelligence and technology

Russia paid a recruit to vandalize London mosques and make it look like a homegrown hate crime. A Ukrainian man has pleaded guilty to the attacks. Direct Action UK, a fake British far-right group, then circulated images of the graffiti.

Stop arming Ukraine or we shut down your defense firms, pro-Kremlin group tells Latvia, Poland, and Portugal. Latvia's security service has opened a terrorism case and jailed one suspect, with the group's deadline set for 7 October.

Ukraine kept this strike drone secret for two years—its maker says it has destroyed more than 350 Russian systems. Ukraine's RAM-2X had been hunting Russian air defense systems and ballistic missile launchers, and the silence ended only when wrecked drones reached Russian hands.

International

Russia plans "accidental" drone strikes on NATO countries, Tusk says. Tusk said the tactic could be used to test whether NATO would act if an attack on one of its members could be presented as a mistake.

EU pledges €3.3 billion for Ukraine, von der Leyen says "more is coming" as Russia's escalating air war makes life in Ukrainian cities increasingly difficult. The new funding comes as Ukraine appeals for more air defense to counter increasingly complex Russian attacks, including advanced missile and drone strikes on Kyiv.

Belarus holds military drills around the Suwalki Gap, NATO's only land link to the Baltics. Minsk says troops are guarding infrastructure, manning checkpoints, and practicing against saboteurs and drones. It has not disclosed the total number of personnel involved.

Poland to provide Ukraine with scarce F-16 missiles to shoot down jet-powered drones — "What Ukraine needs right now." The aid package will also include aviation equipment, Poland's deputy defense minister says.

Fire temporarily shuts part of Slovak ammunition plant amid plans to triple capacity. The company operating the factory plans to triple its annual capacity of roughly 100,000 shell bodies and holds a seven-year agreement to supply EU states.

The EU has billions in unspent defense funds. It wants to use them for projects with Ukraine. The plan could bring more Ukrainian defense companies into Europe's growing defense industry.

Humanitarian and social impact

Thousands are starving in occupied Oleshky. People have no food, no way out, and Russian forces bomb incoming aid. More than 6,000 people, including around 200 children, may remain trapped in the Russian-occupied city, where civilians lack food, water and medicine and some are risking mined fields to escape.

Russia's war has devastated Donetsk Oblast, with losses already exceeding $26 billion. The preliminary estimate covers destroyed industry, energy infrastructure, agriculture, transport, and other sectors, while much of the damage remains impossible to assess.

Ukraine receives 252 bodies as repatriation remains one of the few functioning channels with Russia. The repatriation of bodies gives families of missing Ukrainians a chance to identify their loved ones and finally bury them.

From the frontline to a rehab center: a rescued dog from Pokrovsk now helps wounded Ukrainians on the other side of the country. A rescued puppy from Pokrovsk now has an unusual volunteer role: visiting wounded Ukrainians at a rehabilitation center in Lviv.

Political and legal developments

Kyiv's arms industry wants to kill the export fee. Parliament just refused to route that money to the army. Ukraine's arms makers want the 20-30% export fee scrapped as Europe's defense market opens—while parliament won't route the cash to the army.

The US House just passed the first major Russia oil sanctions in two years—one signature stands between them and law. Named for the late Senator Lindsey Graham, it clears the way for tariffs of up to 100% on China, India, and the other top buyers of Russian energy.

Read our previous daily review here.

Exclusives

“I can travel back to Finland and be safe. That is a luxury”: Sanna Marin on the Russian strike that stopped her train from Kyiv. The former Finnish prime minister has visited Ukraine around ten times since the full-scale invasion. This trip, she says, had more air-raid alarms than any of them, and a Russian drone hit the train travelling beside hers to the Polish border.

Military

No missiles intercepted again: Russia strikes Kyiv water infrastructure amid warnings of harsher winter attacks. Russia also struck residential areas in Odesa and Zaporizhzhia, injuring civilians and damaging homes and other civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine strikes two Russian S-400 launchers in Bryansk. The same systems were used to attack Kyiv overnight.. Ukraine is increasingly targeting systems Russia uses to launch missiles at its cities as Kyiv faces shortages of high-end interceptors.

One pincer stalled a year ago, the other has just been broken near Kostiantynivka—Russia’s ring will not close, Ukrainian commander says. Frontal assaults on fortified cities cost far more men and time than closing a ring behind them would have.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine kept this strike drone secret for two years—its maker says it has destroyed more than 350 Russian systems. Ukraine's RAM-2X had been hunting Russian air defense systems and ballistic missile launchers, and the silence ended only when wrecked drones reached Russian hands.

Ukraine put an Italian-Swiss Skyguard into combat duty. The missile inside is a Cold War design derived from the American Sparrow. Spain and Italy delivered Skyguard/Aspide starting in 2022. The 38th Regiment just showed it on combat duty for the first time.

Ukrainian border unit’s HIMERA B1 relay took 10 strikes from Russia’s FPV drones and guided bombs. Last one leveled building and tower, and relay kept working. Border guards dug the HIMERA B1 out of the rubble because it was still transmitting.

US charges five as alleged Kremlin assassination network reaches American soil. Prosecutors say the network expanded from targeting Russian dissidents and defectors to arranging attacks against European countries supporting Ukraine.

In April, 24 Ukrainian companies ran their own air defense. By mid-September, 81 do — about one new firm per day. They've already downed 20-plus Russian drones.

Ukrainian partisans claim sabotage at Russian plant supplying missiles Moscow uses to bomb Ukrainian cities. ATESH says its agent disabled the power supply at the Voronezh facility, disrupting production of components used in Russian weapons.

International

EU pledges €3.3 billion for Ukraine, von der Leyen says “more is coming” as Russia’s escalating air war makes life in Ukrainian cities increasingly difficult. The new funding comes as Ukraine appeals for more air defense to counter increasingly complex Russian attacks, including advanced missile and drone strikes on Kyiv.

Belarus holds military drills around the Suwalki Gap, NATO’s only land link to the Baltics. Minsk says troops are guarding infrastructure, manning checkpoints, and practicing against saboteurs and drones. It has not disclosed the total number of personnel involved.

Russia kills captain of Tanzanian-flagged ship in latest attack on civilian shipping in Black Sea. Russia has repeatedly attacked civilian shipping around Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, putting international crews and maritime trade at risk.

“What Ukraine needs right now”: Poland to provide Ukraine with scarce F-16 missiles to shoot down jet-powered drones. The aid package will also include aviation equipment, Poland’s deputy defense minister says.

Fire temporarily shuts part of Slovak ammunition plant amid plans to triple capacity. The company operating the factory plans to triple its annual capacity of roughly 100,000 shell bodies and holds a seven-year agreement to supply EU states.

A fifth of Russian refining sits idle, and the sector’s earnings still grew. The money is being made on prices and state compensation rather than on the volumes the front line actually needs.

The EU has billions in unspent defense funds. It wants to use them for projects with Ukraine. The plan could bring more Ukrainian defense companies into Europe's growing defense industry.

Russia ships armor to Libya despite mounting vehicle losses in Ukraine. Two sanctioned cargo vessels crossed the Mediterranean without broadcasting location data. Russian and Libyan authorities have not disclosed who was to receive their cargo.

A drone came down beside a Bundeswehr air base, weeks after Berlin blamed Moscow for the Leipzig airport attack. The drone's owner and origin are still unknown, and investigators are collecting further parts before saying anything about how it came down.

For first time, foreign government is funding Ukrainian drone school: Canada picks foundation that has already bought Ukraine nearly $50M in drones. Canada, once behind on drones, gets Ukraine's combat experience in return.

Humanitarian and social impact

Thousands are starving in occupied Oleshky. People have no food, no way out, and Russian forces bomb incoming aid. More than 6,000 people, including around 200 children, may remain trapped in the Russian-occupied city, where civilians lack food, water and medicine and some are risking mined fields to escape.

Russia’s war has devastated Donetsk Oblast, with losses already exceeding $26 billion. The preliminary estimate covers destroyed industry, energy infrastructure, agriculture, transport, and other sectors, while much of the damage remains impossible to assess.

Ukraine receives 252 bodies as repatriation remains one of the few functioning channels with Russia. The repatriation of bodies gives families of missing Ukrainians a chance to identify their loved ones and finally bury them.

From the frontline to a rehab center: a rescued dog from Pokrovsk now helps wounded Ukrainians on the other side of the country. A rescued puppy from Pokrovsk now has an unusual volunteer role: visiting wounded Ukrainians at a rehabilitation center in Lviv.

Political and legal developments

Kyiv’s arms industry wants to kill the export fee. Parliament just refused to route that money to the army. Ukraine's arms makers want the 20-30% export fee scrapped as Europe's defense market opens—while parliament won't route the cash to the army.

The US House just passed the first major Russia oil sanctions in two years—one signature stands between them and law. Named for the late Senator Lindsey Graham, it clears the way for tariffs of up to 100% on China, India, and the other top buyers of Russian energy.

Ukraine’s Build with Ukraine has 200-plus foreign cooperation bids pending decision. Its arms industry, representing 400-plus firms, wants to help fix mechanism. The Council of Defence Industry wants a costly new export-permit fee scrapped.

He thought Ukrainian army uniform would hide what he did under occupation. It didn’t. Man who guarded Kherson’s Russian-run prison drew eight years. He guarded cells holding captured Ukrainian resistance members, then hid inside the army before the SBU caught him at a training center.

Read our previous daily review here.