Exclusives

Military

Ukraine sets 2030 roadmap to expand rocket and artillery forces – a constant despite evolving warfare. The plan outlines modernization through 2030, including expanded missile capability, improved reconnaissance systems, and a gradual shift toward domestic production while phasing out outdated Soviet-era systems.

"We have guidance at home"—Kalibrs back to foreign parts after import substitution failed, MOD says. Kalibrs also started carrying cluster munitions.

Russia plans to double Mi-8 helicopter production to offset war losses in 2 years. Mi-8s are versatile workhorses, able to transport troops and cargo, conduct reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and attack missions.

Russia starts hauling gasoline to the front in the trunks of civilian cars. A convoy of sedans packed with jerrycans set out from Kizilyurt in Dagestan to supply Russian troops in occupied Tokmak, shows a video the soldiers filmed themselves.

Chonhar bridge linking occupied Kherson Oblast to Crimea is closed again after the second attack in two days. It is one of only two land routes between Crimea and mainland Ukraine and carries the highway Russia uses to supply its forces on the peninsula.

Ukraine recaptured 100 square kilometers in May. Its deep strikes cost Russia $1 billion. Ukraine hit 111 Russian sites, said Commander Syrskyi.

Intelligence and technology

Russia's closest ally says its new AI military system can detect drones, jam signals, and adapt in real time. Belarus claims AI-driven 'Ross' counter-drone EW system nearing completion.

Ukraine codifies armored vehicle with dome of 10 electronic-warfare modules designed to kill FPV drones before they hit. Ukraine develops armored vehicle to protect against two major Russian battlefield threats.

Ukraine approves 80 km/h electric motorcycle that defeats thermal imaging and acoustic detection. It carries two soldiers in full gear. The 105-kg, 8 kW vehicle reaches 80 km/h and operates with near-silent movement.

One click from operator: Ukraine just shot down Russian Shahed with AI drone that automated 95% of kill. The Brave1 cluster participant manufacturer went from prototype to successful combat use in less than a year.

International

New "Drone Deal" signed – Latvia and Ukraine to expand joint production and defense cooperation. Kyiv said the agreement is aimed at turning Ukraine's battlefield drone experience into structured cooperation with international partners.

EU's 21st sanctions package would ban Russia's soldiers from European soil. Latest package targets banks, oil traders, shadow fleet, third-country evaders.

Bulgaria's new government plans to halt weapons supplies to Ukraine. A Bulgarian minister claimed that Kyiv "needs more people, not more armament," signaling a break with EU policy.

"The enemy counts on our disunity"—Ukrainian diaspora answers with Bern Declaration. More than 350 leaders from 50 countries adopted a seven-point wartime action plan at the first Global Ukrainian Summit held in Switzerland.

NATO shot down drone over Latvia. Russia's electronic warfare sent it there. NATO fighters from the Baltic Air Policing mission shot down a foreign unmanned aerial vehicle over Latvia's eastern Latgale region this morning.

Humanitarian and social impact

"Russia spits in our faces" and the UN pretends it's "just rain" – UN envoy reports May deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since 2022. UN data presented to the Security Council shows May was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians in over two years, as Ukraine accused Russia of denying responsibility and the UN of failing to respond adequately.

Russian missiles kill three and wound six in Chuhuiv as drones injure 15 in Kharkiv, including a one-year-old. Beyond Kharkiv Oblast, Russian attacks killed civilians in Kherson, Sumy, and Donetsk oblasts and wounded dozens more over 8–9 June. Local authorities report at least 8 civilian deaths and 61 injuries.

Food shortage in occupied Rubizhne: Russia blocks civilian deliveries, blames drones. Officials say Moscow engineered the shortage to film propaganda—the same tactic that left 2,000 starving in Oleshky.

Political and legal developments

SBU names 10 Russians tied to "human safari" drone hunt on civilians in Kherson. Counterintelligence built a case against Russian military drone pilots from a single regiment and charged each in absentia with war crimes.

Lithuanian court: the roadside attack on a Ukraine-shirt cyclist was hate, not chance. Judges treated the motive, hostility toward people who support Ukraine, as an aggravating circumstance in sentencing the 1987-born man.

61% of Ukrainians reject ceasefire without security guarantees. Same 61% would accept one with European troops on frontline. The real question isn't whether Ukraine wants a ceasefire, but what guarantees would come with it.

Ukrainian defense official sent 300,000 pairs of useless gloves to front line. He's now going to trial. The manufacturer used ordinary rubber instead of the thermoplastic rubber required by technical specs.

Medic stole 16 FPV from firm that entered $1.1 billion Pentagon competition and hid them for four months. Ukraine arrested him when he tried to sell them for 19% of their value. Ukrainian sergeant arrested for selling 16 General Cherry FPV drones worth $12,600 for $2,370.

Freezing the war along today's lines is "the quickest way" to peace, Ukraine's leader told Sky News. Zelenskyy insisted it is no concession, but a way to save children and bring soldiers home, paired with monitoring missions and allied guarantees.

Read our previous daily review here.

Military

NATO shot down drone over Latvia. Russia's electronic warfare sent it there. NATO fighters from the Baltic Air Policing mission shot down a foreign unmanned aerial vehicle over Latvia's eastern Latgale region this morning.

French NATO jets shoot down drone over Latvia in country's first intercept. Second Baltic intercept in three weeks as spillover from Russia's war on Ukraine accelerates.

Ukraine recaptured 100 square kilometers in May. Its deep strikes cost Russia $1 billion. Ukraine hit 111 Russian sites, said Commander Syrskyi.

Russian crude reaches the sea through tunnels under a mountain ridge—and Ukraine hit the storage end near Novorossiysk. Pipelines link the Grushovaya depot to Novorossiysk's loading berths about 12 km away. Locals counted about 50 blasts before a huge fire lit the mountains above Russia's main Black Sea oil port.

ISW: The strikes will likely cascade into deeper disruption across Russia's rear supply network. Russia leans on two key highways to feed its war. Cut them, and fuel, shells, and troops stop reaching occupied Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk—and Ukraine's drones are working on cutting it.

Intelligence and technology

Russia's closest ally says its new AI military system can detect drones, jam signals, and adapt in real time. Belarus claims AI-driven 'Ross' counter-drone EW system nearing completion.

Ukraine codifies armored vehicle with dome of 10 electronic-warfare modules designed to kill FPV drones before they hit. Ukraine develops armored vehicle to protect against two major Russian battlefield threats.

Ukraine approves 80 km/h electric motorcycle that defeats thermal imaging and acoustic detection. It carries two soldiers in full gear. The 105-kg, 8 kW vehicle reaches 80 km/h and operates with near-silent movement.

One click from operator: Ukraine just shot down Russian Shahed with AI drone that automated 95% of kill. The Brave1 cluster participant manufacturer went from prototype to successful combat use in less than a year.

International

"The enemy counts on our disunity"—Ukrainian diaspora answers with Bern Declaration. More than 350 leaders from 50 countries adopted a seven-point wartime action plan at the first Global Ukrainian Summit held in Switzerland.

61% of Ukrainians reject ceasefire without security guarantees. Same 61% would accept one with European troops on frontline. The real question isn't whether Ukraine wants a ceasefire, but what guarantees would come with it.

Freezing the war along today's lines is "the quickest way" to peace, Ukraine's leader told Sky News. Zelenskyy insisted it is no concession, but a way to save children and bring soldiers home, paired with monitoring missions and allied guarantees.

Britain, France, and Germany back Ukraine's peace terms and press Putin for a ceasefire. After meeting Ukraine's president in London, the three leaders set out five conditions for a just and lasting peace and welcomed Kyiv's push for direct talks.

Putin warned former Soviet republic of "Ukrainian scenario" over EU ties. Its pro-EU party wins elections with 49.81% anyway.

Humanitarian and social impact

Premature births are climbing in Ukraine's front-line regions, and doctors blame the ongoing war. Doctors in Zaporizhzhia now deliver babies and treat miscarriages on the same afternoons that glide bombs hit the city, AP reports.

Food shortage in occupied Rubizhne: Russia blocks civilian deliveries, blames drones. Officials say Moscow engineered the shortage to film propaganda—the same tactic that left 2,000 starving in Oleshky.

Political and legal developments

Russians pulled 30-year record of cash from banks in May. Central Bank now tracks monthly cash limits, can freeze "suspicious" withdrawals. Analyst cites geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, internet outages disrupting online banking, and central bank rate cuts as driving the cash flight.

Ukrainian defense official sent 300,000 pairs of useless gloves to front line. He's now going to trial. The manufacturer used ordinary rubber instead of the thermoplastic rubber required by technical specs.

Medic stole 16 FPV from firm that entered $1.1 billion Pentagon competition and hid them for four months. Ukraine arrested him when he tried to sell them for 19% of their value. Ukrainian sergeant arrested for selling 16 General Cherry FPV drones worth $12,600 for $2,370.

Hungary's anti-corruption watchdog says Orbán's former inner circle should be prosecuted over billions in missing EU funds. Péter Magyar is trying to convince Brussels that Hungary can be trusted with more than €10 billion in cash frozen over rule-of-law concerns.

WSJ: Putin's sanctioned inner circle keeps buying Western business jets through a web of middlemen. A WSJ investigation traces Bombardier and Gulfstream business jets from European dealers through Dubai and Bermuda into Kremlin hands.

Ukraine foils Russian plot to assassinate intelligence official with FPV drone. Russian spy recruited to kill GUR spokesman Andrii Yusov with FPV drone for $100,000 bounty.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Military

Over 2,000 Russian casualties in first six days of June, Madyar reports amid surge in drone strikes on occupied territories Madyar reported strikes on 26 targets across occupied Ukraine and Russia's Bryansk Oblast, including rail, energy, fuel, and telecom infrastructure.

Ukrainian Special Forces target Crimea fuel system, hitting depot and maritime terminal in "asymmetric" middle-strike operation on occupied territory Ukrainian officials say the operation is part of efforts to disrupt logistics networks supporting Russian forces in occupied territory.

"Extremely rare" 300-ton Russian rail recovery crane destroyed in partisan sabotage operation, ATESH claims ATESH claims the loss will slow down repair capacity at major junctions, where rapid recovery is critical for maintaining rail flow.

Russia reportedly restricts bus and private car movement on main arteries through occupied territories, capping two weeks of land-corridor breakdown The stated reason is protection against Ukrainian "attacks on civilian transport." The actual reason is visible in the two-week sequence of events that produced the closures.

Flat steppe: Ukraine is strangling Crimea's supply lines from air. Melitopol-Chonhar road is latest target The operation extends the squeeze on Russia's land corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula.

Kronstadt, Russia's major naval base after Black Sea Fleet losses, gets hit by Ukrainian drones (VIDEO) Russia was in the middle of hosting foreign investors.

Ukraine doubles deep strikes beyond 50 km as "Logistics Lockdown" shifts priority deeper into Russia's transport nodes and rear logistics chains Kyiv says the shift is part of a wider effort to disrupt supply chains and degrade Russia's ability to sustain frontline operations.

Ukraine's drones hit 5 vessels in occupied Azov ports overnight — Azerbaijan says 5 of its nationals died as Russia blames Kyiv Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert "Madyar" Brovdi called the boats smugglers carrying looted grain, fuel, and military supplies with names painted over and radars off.

The Crimean Bridge is heavily guarded. Ukraine struck its maritime security layer in the Kerch Strait. Ukrainian officials say the ship was deployed to patrol and monitor approaches to the Crimean Bridge as part of Russia's layered security network in occupied Crimea.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine has built 822 kilometers of anti-drone road tunnels. Each kilometer means safer evacuations and faster supply In May alone, the State Special Transport Service rebuilt 115.5 km of conventional road, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said.

Ukraine's Bullet interceptor gets speed upgrade. It now has chemical accelerator to chase down Russian 500 km/h Geran-4 The accelerator burns chemical fuel rather than using jet propulsion.

Ukraine ranks its drone units on how deep they see. The 413th has been at top for three months The Unmanned Systems Forces unit held first place in March and April 2026, and second in May, in Ukraine's Delta battlefield-awareness system rankings.

International

Russia is already causing harm to UK. Britain may not be prepared for what comes next, says former top general Lord Peach, the former UK Chief of the Defence Staff said the hybrid war is already happening.

US warned Russia it would "be very, very sorry" over 2022 nuclear use, NATO ex-military chief confirms Russian forces in Ukraine would be "taken out conventionally" by the Americans, the Kremlin was warned amid Kherson retreat, Admiral Bauer says.

"Ukraine might have won" if NATO had acted in 2022, ex-top chief says Admiral Rob Bauer says the West armed Ukraine too slowly to win — and never had a strategy for victory at all.

German defense firm has made Ukraine its second-largest international base Germany's Quantum Systems is building drones, ground robots, and software.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russian drone strikes nuclear fuel storage site in Chornobyl zone A drone attack damaged a key building at Ukraine's centralized spent fuel storage facility, triggering a fire that emergency teams later extinguished.

"The worst environmental catastrophe since Chornobyl disaster": Three years after Russia destroyed Kakhovka Dam, real death toll is still unknown On 6 June 2023, Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant while occupying the dam, flooding 80 settlements, forcing nearly 4,000 people to evacuate, and killing at least 34.

Russian pilot saw man in Ukraine's Kramatorsk and chose to kill him. FPV drones are operated in real time The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has formally classified these strikes as crimes against humanity.

"An unwavering priority": 186 Ukrainians return home in major prisoner swap with Russia Several of the freed Ukrainians were detained in 2022, with some taken during the battles for Mariupol and Azovstal.

Political and legal developments

What do Ukrainian drone makers have to accept to win Pentagon contracts? Experts document "draconian conditions" Below 50% foreign ownership triggers a Security Control Agreement under which the company must be led by a US citizen.

A ship linked to stolen grain from occupied Ukraine was seized in Sweden. A court says Kyiv can have it. The vessel was detained in March and is suspected of helping move grain from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

Read our previous daily review here.