Exclusives
 |
Russian spies ran a campaign against Kyiv on Anthropic’s Claude, and the AI chatbot’s maker caught them at it. The operators automated phishing, intrusion, and data theft, leaving the human to refine the workflows. |
Military
"Only the first season" – Ukraine unveils secret counteroffensive in a region Russia has been trying to seize for 12 years. Ukraine says its forces have cleared Russian infiltrators and retaken territory in northern Donetsk, while the broader scope of "Operation Vivaldi" remains undisclosed.
"Huge increase" in Russian assault groups trying to break through to Dobropillia, but they are using familiar tactics, staff sergeant says. But the Ukrainian military has already mined the main routes Russian forces could use to reach the city, according to the soldier.
Ukraine's drone campaign is changing where Putin goes – now his flagship forum is being moved out of Sochi. Ukraine has sharply intensified its deep-strike drone campaign since Putin last visited Sochi, and now his security service is moving his flagship forum out of the resort.
Ukraine keeps hitting the fuel that Russia's war runs on. Its latest target is the Slavyansk-EKO refinery, with an annual processing capacity of at least 3 million tonnes. The Ukrainian military struck it as part of a deep-strike operation, according to military intelligence.
Ukraine hit the radar that guards Sochi, the Russian resort city it struck ten days ago. Drones burned two fuel depots there ten days ago, and the Ukrainian military says the system meant to stop them is now the target.
No NATO army has fought modern war: Ukrainian officers set their battlefield practice against NATO doctrine and exposed where its assumptions no longer fit. Ukrainian and NATO officers spent three weeks together in Poland.
He had survived Mariupol, Russian captivity and took over Ukraine's Azov grouping in Donetsk. Now Brigadier General Prokopenko warns Russia may mobilize up to 600,000 for its next offensive. Prokopenko, the Mariupol-defense commander now leading the Azov grouping in Donetsk, says the aim is to seize all of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Intelligence and technology
Chinese drones over German bases, paid saboteurs lighting fires for Russia—Germany's military spells out the new normal. First mandated annual report from Germany's MAD puts a Kremlin sabotage pattern on the statutory record—plus Chinese drones over Bundeswehr bases.
Poland can't arrest its way out of Russia's spy pipeline—107 espionage cases in 20 months, and the tempo is holding. 67 cases in 2025, at least 40 more in the first eight months of 2026—and those are only the top-tier investigations Poland's national prosecutors handle.
Ukraine successfully tests interceptor against faster Gerans as Russia floods its skies with drones. Russia is increasingly deploying upgraded drones capable of striking deeper and faster, intensifying attacks that cause mass destruction and civilian casualties across Ukraine.
For first time, Ukraine's drone makers and Europe's arms firms have joined one body: EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance. Eighteen companies aim to build drones and counter-drone systems together, folding Ukraine's combat-tested industry into Europe's.
Modern war that the US is not ready for: For the price of one American cruise missile, Russia builds 20 "poor-man" drones and missiles. Russia is fielding cheap jet drones and missiles built with Chinese parts—slipping past defenses Ukraine and the West spent years building.
International
Russian warship fires flares at Danish military helicopter as Moscow's provocations escalate. One flare passed close to the aircraft during a routine mission off Denmark, as NATO called the incident another "irresponsible Russian action" intended to intimidate allies.
Finland approves second-largest defense package for Ukraine as Russia's next brutal winter campaign looms. The €290 million package contains military equipment urgently requested by Ukraine as Kyiv braces for another winter of Russian attacks on cities and critical infrastructure.
19 Russian defense companies remain outside international sanctions, helping sustain Russia's war machine. The companies are part of KRET, a major Russian defense holding, and produce navigation systems, gyroscopes, and motors used in missiles and drones.
A century ago, bright red trousers made soldiers easy targets. Ukraine's ex-army chief says the West is wearing them again. Ukraine's ex-army chief Zaluzhnyi: the war has surrendered itself to marketers and wheeler-dealers chasing quick profit, and the West's old security guarantees are the red trousers all over again.
Italian jets destroyed a drone over Lithuania in the first such shootdown in the country. Lithuania says there is a high probability it carried explosives, and its origin has not been established.
Lithuania launches military exercises across 12 municipalities as Russia keeps probing NATO's eastern border. A larger multinational exercise is running at the same time on the Belarusian border, with about 2,500 troops from eight countries.
Belarus trains troops to fight saboteurs as Minsk puts its military on a war footing. Warnings that Russia could use Belarusian territory against Ukraine or a NATO state give the drills their edge.
Humanitarian and social impact
Russia brings children from Moldova's Transnistria to occupied Crimea for "patriotic education". Schools in the Russia-backed enclave now begin each week with separatist flag ceremonies. Rights activists say children as young as 11 train with weapons and drones.
Russia has damaged 500+ Ukrainian locomotives as attacks on railways reach Polish border. Ukraine is urgently asking partners for replacement locomotives as more than half of the fleet's wartime losses have occurred this year.
Russia keeps hitting Kyiv's gas stations. Now they get military air-threat tracking. Authorities are giving fuel-station workers real-time information on aerial threats after a series of strikes on stations across the capital.
Russian drones started 17 fires in Chernihiv Oblast, adding forest to the list of things the war destroys without aiming. Falling wreckage sparked blazes across nine oblasts in a single week, with nearly three-quarters of all forest fires linked to military activity.
Russian drones killed a man and injured eight in Kyiv, hitting two gas stations. The overnight wave sent 200 drones at Ukraine, and the capital's filling stations have become a recurring target this month.
Russian strikes will cost Ukraine's economy up to $10 billion this year, ministry says. Kyiv is answering with compensation and cheap credit, aimed at the companies losing warehouses fastest.
Political and legal developments
"We expect specifics from our partners": Zelenskyy says Ukraine will accept energy truce with Russia only if West guarantees Moscow won't break it after its elections. Zelenskyy says any potential truce needs Western guarantees.
Zelenskyy suspends prosecutor general who charged the bureau probing his own office. The agencies he accused are the ones whose independence Brussels treats as a condition of Ukraine's EU accession.
Read our previous daily review here.
