Russia
21 ArticlesUpdated September 25, 2026Analyzing Russia's military operations, defense industrial base, and global influence campaigns through publicly available evidence.
Ukraine Is Fighting Russia in Africa
Kyiv is using drone expertise to expand its reach from Libya’s coast to northern Mali, while operations against Russia bring diplomatic costs.
Ukraine Keeps Striking Russia’s Antenna Plant While the Main Shahed Factory Buys From China
Alabuga is adding defenses and reportedly assembling Chinese-origin antennas on site, giving the factory an antenna supply route outside Cheboksary.
America Is Sinking Tankers That Also Carry Russian Oil
Three of the eight hulls hit since September 5 sit in a Treasury-listed pool that loads in the Baltic as well as the Gulf.
Russia Built an Arctic Oil Port Before It Built the Ships
The pipeline is rated for 100 million tonnes a year. The one tanker at the berth that can work it in winter can move, by one analyst’s estimate, about eight percent of phase one.
Alex Pineschi Knew the Difference Between Fighting and Serving
The Italian veteran spent five years fighting ISIS and warned foreign volunteers that courage was not enough. His last war ended near Lyman on Ukraine’s eastern front.
Is Russia Sabotaging Europe’s Ammunition Factories?
Two explosions in four days hit plants tied to Europe’s ammunition network. Moscow has attacked this infrastructure before, and the EU was already paying to defend it.
The Radar Plane Is No Longer Enough
Ukraine built the cheap sensor layer, Western firms are moving radar onto unmanned aircraft, and the Pentagon is betting on space. Air surveillance is becoming a stack rather than a single platform.
Ukrainian Drones Are Hunting Russia’s Land Bridge to Crimea
Moscow hardened Crimea’s supply lines against another Kerch Bridge strike. Cheap long-range drones are turning that redundancy into exposure.
Ukraine Strikes St. Petersburg
DATELINE: KRONSTADT, RUSSIA, JUNE 3, 2026 Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces and the Security Service struck the Russian corvette Boikiy at 06:35 on June 3, hitting the Project 20380 vessel as it sat in the Veleshchynsky dry dock at the Kronstadt naval base near St. Petersburg, more than 1,000 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory. The General Staff […]
The Drone Does Not Have to Be Steered
Russia’s advantage on NATO’s eastern flank is not control of every drone. It is the political crisis created when no one can prove why the drone crossed.
Mines Found on Tanker at Russian Port
DATELINE: UST-LUGA, MAY 27, 2026 Russia’s FSB said divers found two magnetic mines attached near the engine room of the Liberia-flagged LPG tanker Arrhenius after it arrived at Ust-Luga on May 20 from the Belgian port of Antwerp. Each device contained roughly seven kilograms of plastic explosive. The Investigative Committee said the mines were factory-made […]
The Same Corridor
Belarus turned its frontier into a multi-use pressure system. Migrants, tunnels, drones, balloons, and saboteurs are different payloads moving through the same operating space.
Ukraine’s Drone War Has Crossed the Saturation Line
The May 17 attack on Moscow was not a capital story. It was a production story. Ukraine has built enough long-range drone volume to make Russian air defense the constrained resource.
HALF OF RUSSIA’S IRAN-WAR OIL WINDFALL IS BEING PAID BACK TO OIL COMPANIES
DATELINE: MOSCOW, MAY 6, 2026 Russia’s Finance Ministry reported April oil and gas revenues of 855.6 billion rubles after the Iran-war price spike pushed Brent above $125 a barrel on April 30. The headline number landed one week after the Economic Development Ministry reported Russia’s first quarterly GDP contraction since early 2023, a 0.3 percent […]
Ukraine Is No Longer Just Hitting Russian Oil. It Is Hitting the Switchboard.
The Perm LPDS sits at the convergence of three Transneft trunk lines and the LUKOIL-Permnefteorgsintez feed. The April 29 SBU strike is the second hit on a Transneft routing node in two months, following Kaleykino on February 23. Sources: Transneft Kama Region records, SBU statement, Reuters, Ukrainska Pravda, OilPrice.com.
The Gap Between Guarantors
Mali’s junta was quietly returning to Washington when JNIM struck Bamako and Russia began negotiating its retreat from the north.
The Wrong Factory
How Elbit Systems’ European footprint became a targeting map for actors striking Ukraine’s defense supply chain
The Closed Loop
Russia refined Iran’s drone in Ukraine, is now sending it back, and is photographing US bases for Tehran. Ukraine is the only country that has fought this weapon at scale.
The Export Chain
Ukraine is no longer just striking Russian oil facilities. It is systematically attacking the export terminals, refineries, and transport nodes that turn energy into war finance.
Hrulf: In His Own Words
Jean-François Ratelle commanded the Norman Brigade, fought for Ukraine, and was killed in March 2024. Before he died, he sat down with me and explained why he was there
Europe’s Postwar Reckoning
Europe isn’t just facing a defense crisis. It’s facing an identity crisis over what the postwar settlement was and whether it’s over.
