Putin’s War Russia-Ukraine September 2025- June 2026

23 June
Russia’s Crimean conquest is turning into a deadly mess
Ukrainian drones have made the resort region a battlezone
(The Economist) … Crimea has been under constant attack for months: military units, railway stations and power plants are being hit, and sometimes residential buildings as well. The resort town of Yalta is an exception: it is sheltered by lush mountains and has no military targets. There, children jump from piers into the sea and there is hardly an empty sun-lounger on the beach. But the rest of Crimea has become a war zone.
On the night of June 20th Ukrainian drones hit power lines, blew up an oil terminal in Kerch and damaged a ferry transporting cargo, one of several recent hits on ferries. Ferry crossings have now been shut down, severing one of the peninsula’s main arteries of supply. Lorries can now get in only via a highway through the Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. But the land corridor is increasingly vulnerable to Ukrainian drones, as burned-out vehicles along the road testify. Last week Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s defence minister, said Crimea could “in effect become an island”.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones have been bringing the war deep into Russia itself. In the past few days they have hit refineries in Siberia and, with dramatic effect, in Moscow. …
The attacks on Crimea are especially significant. Crimea serves as Russia’s bridgehead and a supply base for its army, though Ukrainian drone attacks have chased what is left of its Black Sea fleet to more distant ports. It also has enormous spiritual importance. Russia’s nearly bloodless conquest of the territory in 2014 was a triumphant moment of Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions, and greatly boosted his popularity. The jewel of the Russian and Soviet empires, it symbolised the country’s resurgence. …  He has been largely silent about Ukraine’s recent attacks, as have the state media.
Crimeans have been deprived not just of petrol and electricity, but of their faith in the state’s power to solve problems.

18 June
Ukraine Bombards Moscow With One of the Biggest Drone Attacks of the War
The attack, which shut down the capital’s airports for several hours, was part of an escalating campaign to bring the conflict home to Russians.
(NYT) As Ukraine escalated its effort to bring the war home for Russians, the strikes on Thursday appeared to be the largest drone attack on the Russian capital since President Vladimir V. Putin launched the war more than four years ago.
No deaths were immediately reported. But the large-scale assault seemed likely to feed fears among Russians that the Kremlin’s ability to isolate society from the impacts of the war was sharply eroding. That would usher in a new stage for a conflict that has now run longer than World War I.
For days, lines have formed and rationing has been implemented at gas stations in dozens of Russian regions, as persistent Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries and processing facilities have threatened a fuel shortage.

15 June
Historic Orthodox Cathedral Burns in Russian Attack on Kyiv
A bishop reported that many holy items had been recovered from the church, at the site of the Perchersk monastery, a revered place for the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox faiths.
(NYT) Explosions shook buildings across Kyiv through the night in attacks that killed five people and injured 35 others, the authorities said. At least 14 residential buildings were damaged, and two street markets burned down. Russia has intensified missile attacks on the capital amid setbacks on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine.
More than four years into the war, Moscow’s strikes are taking a growing toll on Ukraine’s cultural heritage.
In the overnight assault on Ukraine, Russian forces launched 70 missiles and 611 drones, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said. Kyiv was the main target, with 60 missiles directed at the capital, Mr. Zelensky said.
The attack came on the same day that Ukraine reached a milestone in its push to join the European Union. A meeting in Luxembourg on Monday was to be the official beginning of a process in which Ukraine must prove that it has made reforms needed to join the 27-nation bloc.
Ukrainians have been waiting for this moment since the revolution in 2014 that ousted the Russia-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych, who had refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union. …

7 June

Ukraine Is Not Losing. Russia Is Not Winning.
A momentum shift that changes everything
By Anne Applebaum
(The Atlantic) Ukrainian military technology has been evolving rapidly since the first years of the war. But only now are outsiders—in Europe, the United States, the Persian Gulf, and of course Russia—beginning to understand what that evolution means. Since 2022, many public arguments about the war, even in Europe and the U.S., have adopted the narrative put out by Russian propaganda, tacitly assuming that Ukraine, outmanned and outgunned, would eventually lose. Helping Ukraine was a way to stave off disaster, nothing more. When the Trump administration stopped sending military and financial aid to Kyiv in 2025, some in Washington expected (and maybe wanted) the end to come quickly.
Instead, Europeans have provided money. Ukrainian society produced networked situational awareness. And when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky toured the Gulf states in late March and signed a series of security agreements, something changed in the international narrative. The leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia were talking to Ukraine, not because they felt sorry for a war victim, but because they wanted to acquire drone interceptors like the ones I saw in action last weekend. Iranians use the same drone technology as the Russians, and the Ukrainians know better than anyone how to fight it.
The Gulf leaders are not alone: Suddenly, many people have understood that the Russian narrative is wrong: The Ukrainians are not losing. The Russians are not winning, and more important, they don’t know how to win. Ukrainians and outside analysts have described this dynamic in three main theaters of the war. …

Zelenskyy discusses ‘urgent need to scale up’ air defences with key allies in London
Keir Starmer hosts Ukrainian, French and German leaders in Downing Street after Russia fires hypersonic weapons at Ukraine
(The Guardian) Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of the UK, France and Germany discussed “the urgent need to scale up” Ukraine’s air defences and deep-strike capabilities in London on Sunday night, after Russia fired hypersonic weapons at Ukraine, Downing Street said.
The meeting of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in London came hours after a Russian drone strike damaged a storage centre for spent nuclear fuel nine miles from the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.
Keir Starmer welcomed Zelenskyy, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz for a meeting to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine as the country seeks to capitalise on a series of strikes on key Russian positions. A government spokesperson said the leaders discussed “the urgent need to scale up the production of interceptors and co-develop anti-ballistic missile and deep strike capabilities” after Russia fired Oreshnik weapons at Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says Russian magnate Abramovich came to Kyiv with offer of help
(Reuters) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday said Russian magnate Roman Abramovich had met him in Kyiv and offered to take a message to the Kremlin on peace prospects, but ​the Ukrainian leader reiterated that his government would not abandon its Donbas region.
Zelenskiy’s comments to Sky ‌News while holding talks in London marked his first acknowledgement that the billionaire had traveled to Ukraine’s capital and was involved to some extent in negotiations.
Abramovich…played an important ‌role ⁠in unsuccessful negotiations to end the fighting in the first weeks of the invasion and in a deal to ensure Black Sea grain shipments, but has been less visible since.
Putin has made it clear Russia is not prepared to stop fighting in Ukraine until Kyiv abandons the Donbas region, ​made up of the ​Donetsk and Luhansk regions. ⁠Ukraine’s forces hold about one-fifth of Donetsk and Zelenskiy has said it will not abandon it and the tens of thousands of Ukrainians there.

3-6 June
Kyiv unleashes hundreds of drones on Russia after Putin rejected Zelenskyy meeting
(The Guardian) Ukraine targets St Petersburg in wave of strikes; Keir Starmer to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EU leaders for talks. What we know on day 1,565
Ukraine fired hundreds of drones at Russia early on Saturday, leaving one person dead and setting an oil depot ablaze on the final day of Russia’s flagship economic forum in St Petersburg, officials said. Many of the drones targeted St Petersburg itself, the second Ukrainian attack on the city in less than a week, with Ukraine’s SBU security services saying it had hit a naval base.
The strikes come a day after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, rejected Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposal for a meeting, drawing criticism from the Ukrainian president, who accused him of “choosing war again”.
More than 140 drones were shot down over the Leningrad region, which surrounds St Petersburg, governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said. The city’s governor, Alexander Beglov, issued a rare call for residents to stay indoors during the attack. “Russian air defences prevented any damage. The condition of the three injured is assessed as minor and they have been discharged,” he said.
A Question Swirling Around Putin’s Big Conference: Could the War End?
At the St. Petersburg economic forum, business and political elites said Russia faced a choice of halting the conflict or sacrificing more. Vladimir Putin seemed to signal more war.
(NYT) Over the past month, President Vladimir V. Putin has said on two separate occasions that Russia’s war against Ukraine is “moving toward its conclusion” and “coming to an end.”
Speculation followed. Was Mr. Putin ready to end his invasion, with Russian troops stalled on the front lines and the economy weighed down by war? Or did he plan to keep pressing toward his sweeping objectives in Ukraine and believe victory to be at hand?
As Mr. Putin’s comments have left Russia’s political and business elite anxiously guessing, it also got them talking at the Russian leader’s flagship annual economic conference in St. Petersburg this week.
Some discussed a possible endgame, as pro-Putin figures have appeared in state media in recent days spinning Russia’s current position in the war as a victory, potentially laying the groundwork for a way out, if Mr. Putin so chose.
Putin rejects Zelenskyy’s offer to meet and reaffirms Ukraine war aims
Russian president describes Ukrainian counterpart’s letter as rude and says he sees no point in face-to-face talks
Zelenskyy calls for face-to-face Ukraine war negotiations in letter to Putin
Ukrainian president proposes meeting in neutral third country as Trump says both sides have to ‘make compromises’
‘You can stop your war’: Zelenskyy’s open letter to Putin – in full
Russians are increasingly tired of the conflict and the time to end it is now, Ukraine’s president tells his Russian counterpart in an open letter
Zelenskyy calls for face-to-face Ukraine war negotiations in letter to Putin

3 June
Ukrainian drones hit St Petersburg as ‘Russian Davos’ opens in city
Energy and military sites targeted as guests gather for economic forum where Putin is due to speak on Friday
Ukrainian drones hit energy and military sites in St Petersburg early on Wednesday, hours before international guests gathered for the city’s flagship economic forum, in a blow to Vladimir Putin.
Several long-range drones crashed into oil storage facilities after Russian air defences failed to shoot them down. There were loud explosions and black smoke rose high above the city from the blazing oil terminal.
St Petersburg’s governor, Alexander Beglov, said the Kirovsky and Krasnoselsky districts had been targeted. Ukraine also struck the nearby Kronstadt naval base and shipyard in Leningrad oblast, which is home to Russia’s Baltic fleet.

29 May
After a brutal winter, Ukraine’s drones are breaking Russian defenses
(WaPo) Russia’s advance has suddenly stalled, and Ukraine is fighting on its own terms — a comeback credited to Kyiv’s efforts to steadily strengthen the capabilities of its UAVs. …after a year in which Ukraine lost territory, resisted White House pressure to cave to Russian demands and endured months of blackout, the latest drone warfare has set the stage for something few predicted during the bitter winter — a summer that begins, for once, with something resembling an edge. Russia’s progress at the front has ground almost to a halt. The Kremlin is losing tens of thousands of soldiers a month while suppressing growing public anger at home. And with European funding, Ukraine has become an increasingly formidable arms manufacturer in its own right.
…tens of thousands of operational drones are now blanketing the middle ground — up to 200 miles behind the front — scrambling supply lines, targeting rear command centers and hunting the air defense batteries Russia needs to protect everything else.
And along the 750-mile front, Ukraine is shrinking the number of human soldiers in the kill zone using remote-controlled combatants. Tactical aerial drones spot and attack Russians, while ground robots resupply Ukraine’s own troops and evacuate the wounded, turning what was once a brutal exchange of infantry and artillery into a technological gantlet that Russian forces cross only at tremendous cost.

12 May
Three-day ceasefire ends with fresh wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine
At least one person killed as Moscow launches drone strikes on energy facilities and apartments

11 May
Putin’s War Comes Home to Moscow
He can no longer hide the consequences from the Russian public.
By Anne Applebaum
(The Atlantic) … Moscow was due to host Russia’s annual May 9 military parade, a celebration linked very intimately with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who had revived this Soviet-era celebration of Stalin’s victory over Nazi Germany and his conquest of Europe.
Suddenly, and very publicly, Russian officials appeared nervous, afraid that their parade would be spoiled. The Russian foreign minister issued a threat, promising “no mercy,” whatever that means, if Ukrainians struck the parade. The Kremlin’s spokesperson reassured Muscovites that security was tight because the “threat from the Kyiv regime” had already been taken into account. The Russian president even persuaded the American president to ask the Ukrainian president for a one-day cease-fire. Volodymyr Zelensky granted Putin’s wish, after Trump offered to broker an exchange of 1,000 prisoners of war. Zelensky then issued a magnanimous, droll decree, formally granting Putin permission to hold the parade.
… Fewer foreign leaders bothered to show up this year, and no tanks, missiles, or fighting vehicles were on display. The whole show was brief, lasting only 45 minutes. Putin looked gray, anxious. Solemn North Korean soldiers, marching alongside Russians, provided the only novelty. But their presence was a reminder of the thousands of North Koreans who had died helping Russia recapture its own Kursk province, which Ukrainian forces occupied for eight months in 2024–25. Also, as the only foreigners present in significant numbers, the North Koreans sent an ominous message about the current state of Russia’s alliances.

Why is Putin now talking about the war in Ukraine ‘coming to an end’?
(The Guardian) Drone strikes, mounting casualties and a distracted US president means a slow-motion victory is in doubt
1. Russia is losing battlefield momentum
After Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive in the summer of 2023, Moscow had been gradually taking Ukrainian territory. Though the Russian attacks were slow, grinding and costly in terms of casualties, they had created a sense that Ukraine was slowly but inevitably losing. But that has changed.
2. Russian casualties may exceed replacements
Ukraine says that for the past five months it has killed or wounded more Russian soldiers than are being recruited. Though the figures are hard to verify, Ukraine bases its statistics on combat footage.
3. Ukrainian refinery attacks expose Russia to a fall in oil prices
…recent long-range missile and drone attacks by Ukraine on Russian oil export terminals at Primorsk and Ust-Luga on the Baltic, two of 14 refineries or terminals Ukraine says it bombed in April, have slashed export volumes.
4. Ukraine is becoming a missile and drone superpower
Gradually, it became clear that western stockpiles were running short, prompting Ukraine to invest more in its own knowhow and equipment. Success has been demonstrated by the deep strikes on Russian oil infrastructure – which include three drone attacks in the past fortnight on a refinery in Perm, 930 miles from the frontline.
5. Putin may hope to reignite dormant White House interest

10 May
Russia is stumbling on the battlefield
As casualties soar in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin looks ever more beleaguered at home
(The Economist) … THIS YEAR’S Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9th involved nothing triumphal. For the first time in two decades tanks and other military vehicles did not rumble through Red Square in celebration of the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany. Russia’s authorities deemed it too great a risk to cram armoured vehicles and missile-carriers into nearby staging areas—they would have made far too juicy a target for Ukraine’s increasingly effective drones. In the run-up to the big day, mobile internet services in Moscow and St Petersburg were cut off for security reasons. Large numbers of air-defence systems were redeployed from remote parts of the country.
Rubbing in the insult Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, issued a decree to “permit” the parade to proceed, saying that Red Square would not be attacked.

9-11 May
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy: Russia has no intention of ending this war
Zelenskiy says Russia does not intend to end the war
Both sides report violation of U.S.-mediated ceasefire
Putin had suggested the war was to end soon
(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Russia has no ​intention of ending the more than four-year-old war with his country and Kyiv was preparing for further attacks.
Zelenskiy ‌made his comments as a U.S.-mediated ceasefire linked to Russia’s 81st anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany drew to a close, with each side accusing the other of violating it. He also spoke two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the conflict was coming to an end.
Putin says he thinks Russia-Ukraine war is coming to an end
Putin says the Ukraine was is coming to an end
Putin’s preference is to speak to Europeans via Schroeder
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 triggering major war
Meeting with Zelenskiy only possibe once peace deal agreed – Putin
(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on ​Saturday that he thought the Ukraine war was coming to an end, remarks that came just hours after he had vowed victory in Ukraine at Moscow’s most ‌scaled-back Victory Day parade in years.
“I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two. He also said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany’s former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Russia holds scaled-down Victory Day parade as temporary ceasefire in Ukraine war takes effect
(CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin presided over his most pared-back Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square, after a three-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine took effect.
Russia’s annual May 9 parade commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Under Putin, it has come to typically symbolize the country’s military strength. Usually known for it’s dazzling display of heavy military equipment, this year looked very different, with no military hardware on show at all – the first time in nearly two decades.
As he has done in previous years, Putin made a direct connection between Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – the “special military operation,” as the Kremlin calls it, and the losses the Soviet Union incurred during World War II.
Forgoing the traditional show of force in favor of security, the parade took place after intensified Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory, particularly against oil refineries, as the Ukrainian government accuses the Kremlin of continuing attacks on Kyiv and beyond.

7 April
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy reiterates truce offer ahead of Orthodox Easter
Ukrainian president says Russia unlikely to accept – ‘for them, nothing is sacred’
(The Guardian) Ukraine’s president has renewed his offer to Russia of a mutual ceasefire on strikes against energy infrastructure. “If Russia is ready to stop strikes on our energy infrastructure, we will respond in kind,” he said. “This proposal has been conveyed to the Russian side through the Americans.” Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered last week to observe a ceasefire for Easter, which Orthodox adherents mark on Sunday (13 April) in Russia and Ukraine.
In his remarks on Monday, after an overnight attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa killed three people and injured at least 16, Zelenskyy said Russia appeared unwilling to agree to the ceasefire. “We have repeatedly proposed to Russia a ceasefire at least for Easter,” he said. “But for them, all times are the same. Nothing is sacred.”
Ukrainian drones attacked the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s oil shipping terminal in southern Russia early on Monday, damaging a mooring point and setting four oil tanks on fire, the Russian defence ministry claimed. The Ukrainian army said it had attacked a different terminal in the port of Novorossiysk – without mentioning the CPC, which did not immediately comment. The CPC pipeline handles about 1% of the world’s oil supplies, as well as about 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports.

20 March
Ukraine faces growing pressure because of the war in Iran as Russia readies a new offensive
(AP) With U.S.-brokered Ukraine peace talks on hold due to the war in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to try to expand his military gains via new offensives against his neighbor that could put even more pressure on Kyiv.
Windfall revenues from surging global oil prices are filling Moscow’s war coffers and U.S. air defense assets are being drained quickly by Iranian attacks across the Gulf, raising concerns that little will be left available for Ukraine in the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Ukraine’s European allies have promised to maintain their steadfast support, but continuous bickering over a major 90 billion-euro ($106 billion) European Union loan to cover Kyiv’s military and economic needs for two years has reflected the mounting challenges.
The refusal by NATO allies to commit naval assets to help restore tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has drawn an angry rebuke from President Donald Trump, highlighting another emerging fault line that is fraught with potential repercussions for Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought to hold Washington’s attention by offering its expertise in defending against Iranian Shahed drones, sending over 200 military experts to the Gulf. Trump, however, has shrugged off Zelenskyy’s offer of help, saying the U.S. doesn’t need Kyiv’s assistance.
As new signs of a rift emerge in Western alliances, Putin and his generals are pondering plans for the spring and summer campaign across more than the 1,200-kilometer (about 750-mile) front line.

23-24 February
Four years in: Ukraine war grinds on, and so do the talks
(GZERO media) At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, many experts gave Ukraine’s government a few days, maybe weeks, to survive. They predicted Russia’s military would roll into Kyiv, a puppet government would be installed, and the world would be left to decide how to respond to a fait accompli.
Instead, the war became the longest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, and as of this anniversary, there’s no end in sight.
With little progress in negotiations, the war in Ukraine is steadily rolling into its fifth year with no end in sight. But inside Ukraine, the mood is neither defeatist nor triumphalist; it’s something more stubborn than anything else. Kreynovich is clear that while more Ukrainians may now be open to more compromise than before, nobody envisions simply laying down arms and moving on. The soldiers in the trenches, he says, aren’t fighting because Zelensky orders them to. “This is the will of the people, both those who have died and those who are sensitive about giving up their sacrifice in vain.””>
The fourth anniversary happens to fall on Trump’s State of the Union address, a moment for the president to tout his wins and lay out what he hopes to still accomplish in front of a large audience. Volker says the president should seize the moment, call for an immediate ceasefire by a certain date, and make clear that failure to comply will trigger secondary sanctions, oil market pressure, and the lifting of weapons restrictions on Ukraine. The US, he notes, still wields significant leverage over Russia. The country’s oil revenues last month hit their lowest level in five years, and Urals oil, Russia’s flagship crude, is trading at its widest discount since 2023. Secondary US sanctions could crush the Kremlin’s budget. “He should make clear that he’s given Vladimir Putin a year to end the war, [since] Putin has rejected him every step of the way,” says Volker.
Daalder: “A ceasefire is not in the interest of Ukraine”
Could a ceasefire in Ukraine do more harm than good? Former US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder joins Ian Bremmer on GZERO World to explain why he sees a pause in the war as a potential trap. (video)
“If a ceasefire means the United States opens up economic and diplomatic concessions to Russia, and Europeans follow, the security guarantees unravel,” Daalder explains, adding that such a pause risks creating a frozen conflict rather than a just or sustainable peace. “That is a trap potentially, it doesn’t have to be, but it could lead to the unraveling of everything that’s there.
The diplomatic stalemate. Just last week, US-brokered talks wrapped up in Geneva, the third round of direct negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian envoys. Both sides described the talks as “difficult,” with no sign of a breakthrough. Ukraine is resistant to giving up territory without iron-clad security guarantees. Russia, on the other hand, showed no signs of relenting in its maximalist demands: that Ukraine hand over 20% of the eastern Donetsk region it still holds, recognize Russia’s territorial annexations, and accept neutrality without meaningful security guarantees.
Kurt Volker, who served as US special representative during President Donald Trump’s first term and ambassador to NATO under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, is blunt about why the gridlock persists. The Trump administration’s strategy of pressuring Ukraine to give up land, rather than pushing Russia for a ceasefire, is “backwards,” he says. “Trump seems to believe that if Ukraine gives up territory, it’ll end the war. That is simply not true.”
Still, Volker credits the current Trump administration with shifting from the “as long as it takes” approach under President Joe Biden to ending the war. “He’s done a lot of things,” Volker said. “But the thing he has not done is put pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war. So everything else is ready, except that piece is missing.”
‘Political sabotage’: EU leaders accuse Hungary of undermining support for Ukraine
Viktor Orbán’s government blocks fresh economic measures against Russia on eve of war’s fourth anniversary
Germany, France and other EU states failed to persuade Viktor Orbán’s government on Monday to approve the latest EU sanctions package and a loan meant to help Kyiv meet its military and financial needs. Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, described Hungary’s actions as “political sabotage”.
The anniversary follows a brutal and freezing winter in which Russia has systematically dismantled Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with drone and ballistic missile attacks, leaving millions without power. Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv have been badly affected.
Despite worsening conditions for civilians, the mood in the capital is surprisingly upbeat. In interviews this week Zelenskyy insisted Ukraine was “definitely not losing”. Since late January his armed forces have recaptured 400 sq km in the south of the country.
A further round of peace talks are expected to take place in Geneva later this week, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, indicated. Budanov admitted it was no secret the negotiations with Russia, brokered by the US, “aren’t going smoothly”. “We are clearly moving forward,” he said.
So far, the Kremlin has refused to modify its original maximalist demands. It wants Ukraine to hand over the entire Donbas region, including areas Russia does not control. Zelenskyy has ruled this out, despite coming under pressure from Donald Trump’s envoys to agree.

20 February
A war foretold:how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans and why nobody believed them
…exclusive account details how the US and Britain uncovered Vladimir Putin’s plans to invade, and why most of Europe – including the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy – dismissed them. As the fourth anniversary of the invasion approaches and the world enters a new period of geopolitical uncertainty, Europe’s politicians and spy services continue to draw lessons from the failures of 2022

14 February
Separate talks on Iran and Ukraine-Russia set for Tuesday in Geneva, source says
(Reuters) … Witkoff and Kushner will participate in trilateral talks with representatives from Russia and Ukraine in the afternoon, the source said. … President Donald Trump is…trying to coax Ukraine and Russia into an agreement to end Moscow’s four-year-old invasion of Ukraine.

2-5 February
Second day of Ukraine-Russia peace talks in UAE end without breakthrough
Prisoner exchange agreed at most significant contact between Kyiv and Moscow in months, but ‘work remains’
The Trump administration has over the past year pushed the two sides to find compromises. But breaking the deadlock on key issues appears no closer as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor [approaches]…
Ukraine and Russia concluded a second day of US-led talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday without a breakthrough towards ending Europe’s most deadly conflict since the second world war.
The two sides agreed to a reciprocal exchange of 157 prisoners of war each, offering a rare concrete outcome from the discussions.
…the meetings marked the most substantive engagement between senior delegations from Kyiv and Moscow in months, pointing to a tentative, if uncertain, revival of diplomatic efforts nearly four years into the war.
Thursday’s meeting followed a round of trilateral negotiations on Wednesday.
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said the trilateral negotiations had been “genuinely constructive”, thanking the US and the United Arab Emirates for their role in mediating the talks. Russia’s representative, Kirill Dmitriev, similarly struck a positive note, saying there had been progress and “forward movement” in discussions on ending the war.
US-brokered talks on Russia’s war on Ukraine will resume in Abu Dhabi
(AP) — A new round of U.S.-brokered talks on ending Russia’s war on Ukraine is set to go ahead this week after a brief postponement, a senior Kremlin official said Monday, with negotiations taking place against a backdrop of continued front-line fighting and deadly long-range attacks on rear areas.
The trilateral talks take place on Wednesday and Thursday in Abu Dhabi, where a previous meeting was held last month.

3 February
Russia breaks Trump-brokered energy ceasefire
Kremlin bombs Ukrainian power plants and energy infrastructure right before latest round of peace talks begin in Abu Dhabi.
(Politico Eu) Russia broke an energy truce brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump after just four days on Tuesday, hitting Ukraine’s power plants and grid with more than 450 drones and 70 missiles.
“The strikes hit Sumy and Kharkiv regions, Kyiv region and the capital, as well as Dnipro, Odesa, and Vinnytsia regions. As of now, nine people have been reported injured as a result of the attack,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a morning statement.
The Russian strike occurred half-way through a truce on energy infrastructure attacks that was supposed to last a week, and only a day before Russian, Ukrainian and American negotiators are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi for the next round of peace talks.

28 January
Russian and Ukrainian military casualties in war nearing 2m, study finds
Thinktank says about 1.2m Russians troops killed, wounded or missing to date and 600,000 Ukrainians

Russia offers cash bonuses, frees prisoners and lures foreigners to replenish its troops in Ukraine
(AP) As Russia seeks to replenish its forces in nearly four years of war — and avoid an unpopular nationwide mobilization — it’s pulling out all the stops to find new troops to send into the battlefield.
Men from South Asian countries, including India, Nepal and Bangladesh, complain of being duped into signing up to fight by recruiters promising jobs. Officials in Kenya, South Africa and Iraq say the same has happened to citizens from their countries.

27 January
Attacks day after day’: Odesa in Russia’s crosshairs as war pivots back to Black Sea
(The Guardian) Unable to get near Ukraine’s main port, Moscow is pounding the city from afar with missiles and drones
Ukrainian strikes late last year on oil tankers in Russia’s shadow fleet, and farther afield on the Russian naval base at Novorossiysk, coincided with renewed Russian attention on Odesa. Vladimir Putin has long claimed Ukraine’s main port as Russian, and in December he threatened to cut the city off from the sea.
Taking Odesa, or even placing it under naval blockade, remains far beyond Moscow’s reach. Ukrainian naval missile batteries sank its warships, including most famously the Moskva,at the beginning of the war. So instead Russia has pounded the city with missiles and drones.
Russia offers cash bonuses, frees prisoners and lures foreigners to replenish its troops in Ukraine

24 January
Abu Dhabi Hosts Day 2 of Russia-Ukraine-US Trilateral Talks
(The Caspian Post) Axios correspondent Barak Ravid wrote on the US social media company X that Ukrainian officials told him the talks were “positive” and “constructive,” adding another round of talks will be held in Abu Dhabi “next week.”
Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s delegation, wrote on the US social media platform Facebook following the first day of talks on Friday that the negotiations are focused on parameters for ending the war with “a dignified, lasting peace.”
Earlier that day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told journalists that the issue of the Donbas region would be “key” during the trilateral talks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that efforts to resolve the conflict, which is set next month to hit the four-year mark, are “progressing.”

23 January
Russia keeps up demand for Ukrainian land as three-way talks begin in UAE
Moscow repeats call for Ukraine to leave Donbas before first trilateral talks since start of invasion in February 2022
(The Guardian) Ukraine, Russia and the US have begun three-way talks for the first time since Russia’s full-scale military invasion began in February 2022, but with the Kremlin maintaining its maximalist demands for Ukrainian territory, it is unclear whether Donald Trump will be able to broker a ceasefire even by putting heavy pressure on Kyiv.
The talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday are the highest-level known summit between the three sides since the beginning of the war, and come as Trump’s demands to take over Greenland have strained tensions among Ukraine’s western allies as the country endures a harsh winter with much of its civilian energy infrastructure damaged by Russian attacks.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the three sides were meeting at “negotiator level” and that the “format is happening for the first time in a long time”. Kyiv’s delegation “knows what to do,” he said in a voice note to journalists. Russia sent a delegation led by the GRU military intelligence chief, Adm Igor Kostyukov, indicating a focus on military rather than political negotiations.
The talks come after a seventh meeting between Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where the main topics of discussion were Russia’s demands for territory and Ukraine’s security guarantees, which Zelenskyy has said were agreed with Trump at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos.
Witkoff was accompanied in Moscow by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. They were joined by by Josh Gruenbaum, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). He was recently appointed as a senior adviser on Trump’s international “board of peace” for Gaza.
The Kremlin’s diplomatic adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters the talks had been “useful in every respect” and that it was “agreed that the first meeting of a trilateral working group on security issues will take place today in Abu Dhabi”.
Russia launches strikes on Kyiv and Kharkhiv during Abu Dhabi talks
At least 15 injured in Russian strikes, as talks continue between Ukraine, Russia and the US in Abu Dhabi. What we know on day 1,431

2025

24 November
Russia Bombards Kyiv Hours After Trump Voices Hope for Ukraine Deal
Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
Russia launched a combined missile and drone attack on Ukraine, concentrated heavily on the capital Kyiv, just hours after President Donald Trump struck a positive tone on prospects for a ceasefire deal.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a residential apartment building had been severely damaged in the attacks and some power and water supply cuts were being imposed in city districts.
The Energy Ministry said Russian forces are also undertaking a “massive combined attack” on energy infrastructure in the country, with energy workers to begin assessing the consequences and carrying out restoration work as soon as the security situation allows.

19-21 November
Kirill Dmitriev: ‘ruthlessly ambitious’ Kremlin figure behind Ukraine plan
Harvard-educated head of Russia’s wealth fund has risen to key role despite having little diplomatic experience
(The Guardian) When relations between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin soured this autumn, with the US president publicly accusing Moscow of blocking a path to a peace in Ukraine and announcing significant sanctions against Russia’s oil sector, one man saw an opening.
Kirill Dmitriev, the US-savvy, Harvard-educated head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, boarded a plane to Florida late October, where he met Steve Witkoff, the property developer serving as Trump’s freelance envoy on Ukraine.
The two men, neither of whom has any real diplomatic experience, began drafting a plan that would impose draconian terms on Ukraine and hand Moscow sweeping influence over the country’s political and military sovereignty.
The scheme, which surfaced in media reports on Wednesday, has thrust Dmitriev back into the global spotlight – a position, several people who have met him over the years say, he has long craved.
US-backed plan would hand eastern territory to Russia, Zelensky calls for ‘dignified peace’
(France 24) The plan put forward by the United States to end the war in Ukraine calls, among other measures, for Kyiv to cede the regions of the Donbas in the country’s east to Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday appealed for a “dignified peace”, as Russia claimed to have captured the stronghold of Kupiansk.
Under the proposed deal, Russia would be “reintegrated into the global economy” after nearly four years of tough sanctions and be allowed back into the G8.
“It is expected that Russia will not invade neighboring countries and NATO will not expand further,” it says.
But all sanctions would snap back if Russia invades Ukraine again – “in addition to a decisive coordinated military response.”
The contents of the plan have fuelled suggestions that Moscow was involved in drafting it.
“It seems that the Russians proposed this to the Americans, they accepted it,” a senior Ukrainian source told AFP.
Timothy Snyder: The Putin-Witkoff Plan Worsens the War</strong> (video)
Five Reasons the US should not help Russia subjugate Ukraine
Among all the other things that are happening, we have a US administration trying to bully Ukrainians into accepting Russia’s proposal that their sovereignty be undone. Aside from the naked injustice of this, there are five basic practical reasons why it would make the world far more dangerous
How to Negotiate with Russia (text)
Account for history, law, and above all Ukraine
…Putin and Trump (or their emissaries) have been secretly consulting about a settlement to the war that Russia likes. Given the inherent traps of allowing an aggressor to decide the outcome of his war, I will try to take a step back and give a quick historically-informed sense of how negotiations might actually work. Here are ten basic principles.
In effective negotiations, concessions are not made in advance. No one yet knows what we are conceding (in the name of Ukrainians) in the present proposal, but in the past the Trump administration has floated enormous concessions: that Ukraine should not join NATO; that Russians should not be tried for war crimes; that Russia not pay war reparations. It is counterproductive and unjust to make concessions in advance in exchange for nothing — and especially to make them in the name of other people.
Ukrainians must be heard. Officials of the Russian aggressor state are happy that their position is the basis of the US proposal. Americans should listen to Ukrainians.
US and Russian officials draft plan to end Ukraine war based on capitulation from Kyiv
It is unclear if Trump administration backs deal that would mean Kyiv giving up territory and slashing size of military
US and Russian officials have quietly drafted a new plan to end the war in Ukraine that would require Kyiv to surrender territory and severely limit the size of its military, it was reported on Wednesday as Russian drone and missile strikes killed at least 25 people in the city of Ternopil.
The draft plan, which was reportedly developed by Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the Kremlin adviser Kirill Dmitriev, would force draconian measures on Ukraine that would give Russia unprecedented control over the country’s military and political sovereignty. The plan is likely to be viewed as surrender in Kyiv.

12 November
Vladimir Putin has no plan for winning in Ukraine
Fighting will continue, but a reckoning is coming
(The Economist) ON JUNE 10TH 2026 the fighting between Russia and Ukraine will have lasted longer than the first world war. That conflict, too, was supposed to have been over in a few weeks. As in Ukraine, fighting became bogged down and the high command squandered men’s lives in one doomed assault after another. In August 1918 the allies used new tactics to break the German lines. Today, by contrast, Ukraine will not surrender and Russia does not know how to win.
Even in a dictatorship, a leader who has no theory of victory is storing up trouble. As Tsar Nicholas II learnt to his cost in the first world war, sooner or later there will be a reckoning. The more that Mr Putin throws away Russian lives pointlessly today, the greater the crisis he will face tomorrow.
The more Russian lives Mr Putin throws away pointlessly today, the greater the crisis he will face tomorrow
That lack of progress explains why Mr Putin is also striking Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. He hopes to make parts of Ukraine uninhabitable and to destroy morale. Russia has started talking about the devastating winter that lies ahead. Nobody should trivialise Ukrainian suffering, but attacking civilians rarely causes a country to collapse. People already know that Russia is merciless. Every missile that strikes a civilian target only underlines how much they have to lose should Mr Putin prevail.
In contrast, Ukraine’s deep strikes inside Russia may change some minds. Polling suggests that 70% of Russians say they support the war. Perhaps only one in five of these people is a fervent believer. The rest take the easier path of refusing to think about what is happening. But by hitting oil infrastructure and airports as the economy slows and budgets tighten, Ukraine may be able to jog Russians into confronting reality.

21-22 October
Russia holds nuclear drills, Ukraine seeks Swedish jets as Trump delays summit
Russia says it held exercise with strategic nuclear weapons
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy plans to buy Gripen fighter jets from Sweden
Russia and Ukraine carry out heavy attacks overnight
US says Putin-Trump summit plans on hold
Russia says summit takes time to prepare
Trump’s call to freeze Ukraine conflict at current frontlines is ‘good compromise’, says Zelenskyy
Ukrainian president’s comments come amid suspension of planned US-Russian summit and fresh attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv
Plans for Trump-Putin talks in Budapest shelved
White House says there are now no plans for summit ‘in the immediate future’ as latest efforts to end Ukraine war falter Trump puts Putin talks on hold as Kremlin launches deadly new attacks on Ukraine
(NBC) At least six people were killed overnight, shortly after President Donald Trump announced that he did not “want to have a waste of time” holding a summit with the Russian leader.

14 October
Russian drones over Europe could be a ‘psyop’ – or preparations for a wider war
Mark MacKinnon
After a series of provocative drone flights near major airports and NATO military bases in recent weeks, Moscow denies involvement in the campaign of sabotage, electronic warfare and drone incursions. The latest provocation this weekend saw Estonia close access to the Russian border after a group of armed men in military-style uniforms was filmed standing in the middle of the road.
What’s next: One theory is that President Vladimir Putin is laying the groundwork for a future military campaign against one or more members of the alliance of 32 states. Others believe it could be something closer to a Cold War-style psychological operation, intended to sow doubt about support for Ukraine
(Globe & Mail) Russia has been accused of waging a “hybrid war” campaign against European countries, including a series of provocative drone flights near major airports and NATO military bases in recent weeks.
Few in Europe believe Moscow’s denial of involvement in the campaign of sabotage, electronic warfare and drone incursions. But there’s much debate about what the Kremlin seeks to achieve by escalating tensions with the European Union and NATO while the bulk of its army remains bogged down in Ukraine.
One theory is that Russian President Vladimir Putin is laying the groundwork for a future military campaign against one or more members of the 32-member alliance. Others, however, see the effort as something closer to a Cold War-style psychological operation, or “psyop,” intended to sow doubt about support for Ukraine.
Drone sightings have forced the temporary shutdowns of airports in Copenhagen, Oslo and Munich in recent weeks, causing dozens of flight cancellations. Flights into and out of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, were affected on Oct. 6 after the appearance of 11 meteorological balloons near the city’s airport.
Suspicious drones have also been spotted flying near NATO military bases in Denmark, Germany and Belgium. Russian saboteurs have been blamed for cutting at least 11 undersea communications and electricity cables – the majority of them running under the Baltic Sea – since the start of the war in Ukraine. And Russian actors have been blamed for a series of parcel fires targeting international courier companies.
The latest provocation, on Saturday, saw Estonia close access to a border road that briefly passes through Russian territory after a group of about 10 armed men in military-style uniforms were filmed standing in the middle of the road.

7 October
Putin’s Polycrisis
Sergei Guriev, Dean and Professor of Economics at London Business School
(Project Syndicate) Despite…multiple challenges, Putin seems undeterred. That is because the situation is not yet catastrophic. After all, the Russian economy may be stagnating, but it is not collapsing. And with a labor force of more than 72 million, Putin can still recruit about 30,000 soldiers per month by paying men from Russia’s poorest regions ten or 20 times their average wage. These factors, coupled with his apparatus of repression, have likely convinced Putin that he has the means to keep his war economy running and suppress domestic discontent for as long as necessary.
Perhaps more importantly, Russian forces continue to advance on the battlefield – a critical element of Putin’s strategy. To be sure, the process is slow and costly in terms of lives and money. But so long as Putin continues to seize more Ukrainian land, he has no incentive to negotiate, regardless of what the US government offers him. That is not to say that Western sanctions have failed. Putin has limited access to cutting-edge military technology and must rely on China, North Korea, and Iran for spare parts and other supplies. He has less cash to recruit soldiers, and he may need to spend even more to quell civil unrest. In the new fiscal plan for 2026, he has to budget the same amount for military and security spending in nominal rubles – thus de facto reducing this expenditure adjusted for inflation. Looking ahead, Russia’s demographic troubles imply that the Kremlin will need to offer ever higher bonuses for recruits and spend more on wages for workers in defense industries, while enduring a further slowdown in civilian sectors. Meanwhile, a recession would undermine fiscal equilibrium and mire the country in a doom loop, as the higher taxes needed to finance the war dampen economic growth and depress revenues further. In Putin’s view, these are concerns for another day. In the near term, he has sufficient resources to maintain order at home and pay for his army’s slow advance in Ukraine. Yes, it comes at the expense of spending on education, health care, innovation, and infrastructure. But for Putin, making progress on the battlefield is a better investment in Russia’s future: it means that he will have a stronger hand when it comes time to make a settlement. If Putin cares about territorial gains above all else, the question becomes how to stop Russian troops from advancing in Ukraine. That will require the West to press as hard as possible on Putin’s pain points. Only by strengthening technological, economic, and financial sanctions against the Kremlin, providing advanced weapons to Ukraine, and incentivizing the Russian brain drain can Western policymakers accelerate the demise of Putin’s war machine, freeze the frontline, and save Ukrainian lives.

28 September
Zelenskyy condemns Russia’s ‘vile and cowardly’ 12-hour bombing of Ukraine
Moscow targets Kyiv and other regions with about 600 drones and 40 missiles, killing at least four people
(The Guardian) One of the worst bombardments of Kyiv since the start of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has killed at least four people in what Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as a “vile and cowardly” attack.
Russia launched nearly 600 drones and more than 40 cruise missiles in a bombardment that lasted more than 12 hours over Saturday night and into Sunday morning. The main targets were the Ukrainian capital and the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Odesa.
Ukraine’s president noted that the onslaught came at the close of UN general assembly week in New York, during which Donald Trump had expressed support for Kyiv. Zelenskyy called on allies to stop all Russian oil imports and promised his country would “strike back”.
There was widespread international condemnation. The UK defence secretary, John Healey, said the bombardment had brought further death and destruction and showed that Putin was “committed to war”. He said Britain would step up its support for Kyiv in response to Moscow’s “illegal attacks”.
Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, said Russia had again targeted civilians in cold blood. “This brutal attack … lays bare Russia’s false narratives of the war and again shows the world the true face of the aggressor,” he said. He called for additional EU sanctions against Moscow and for pressure to be put on its war machine.
Poland’s military said it had scrambled fighter jets and put ground-based air defence systems on high alert in response to the strikes on Ukraine. The moves were preventive and intended to secure Polish airspace and protect citizens, especially in border areas with Ukraine, the military said.

17 September
Ukraine war briefing: Russian oil system struggling under Ukrainian attacks – report
Transneft has told producers they may have to cut their output because of attacks on pipelines and ports, Reuters says. What we know on day 1,302
(The Guardian) Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft has warned producers they may have to cut output following Ukraine’s drone attacks on critical export ports and refineries, Reuters has reported, citing industry sources. Ukrainian drones have frequently hit Russia’s oil plants, cutting refining capacity by up to a fifth, and damaged ports including Ust-Luga and Primorsk, Ukrainian military officials and Russian industry sources have said. Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday it had struck the Saratov oil refinery in Russia during an overnight attack.
The European Commission will propose speeding up the phase-out of Russian fossil fuel imports, the EU executive’s head, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Tuesday after a call with the US president, Donald Trump. “Russia’s war economy, sustained by revenues from fossil fuels, is financing the bloodshed in Ukraine,” she said. Von der Leyen announced the commission would soon present its 19th package of sanctions aimed at Russia’s war effort – targeting crypto, banks, and energy.
Donald Trump on Tuesday said Zelenskyy will “have to get going and make a deal” while Europe “have to stop buying oil from Russia”. Europe has in fact greatly reduced its purchase of Russian oil and gas, though two big holdouts are Hungary and Slovakia, whose rightwing prime ministers are both friendly with Putin and Trump.

10 September
Nicholas Kristof: 3 Thoughts After Russia’s Drone Incursion Into Poland
Russia’s drone incursion into Poland overnight, forcing NATO fighter jets to scramble and shoot down some of the drones, was an enormous escalation by President Vladimir Putin of Russia. And for those of us in the West, it was a test.
It was a test, first of all, of whether we will take this violation of NATO territory seriously, or whether we will investigate, wring our hands and debate among ourselves whether the drone incursion was real. A lot about the event is still being figured out but this incursion appears intentional. One drone might go astray, but this was more than a dozen drones entering Polish territory, even as none appear to have been reported in Slovakia, Hungary or other neighboring countries.
That’s how Putin operates: He tests and measures the reaction. If this challenge to NATO is met with nothing more than indignant tweets, he will escalate further. He is trying to bully NATO countries into backing away from Ukraine, as he has bullied so many others.

7 September
Russia Unleashes Largest Drone Assault of War, Setting Government Building Ablaze
Ukrainians said it was the first time a key building in Kyiv’s government district had been damaged since the war began. Russia has kept attacking despite Trump administration efforts at peace talks.
(NYT) Russia attacked Ukraine on Sunday with the largest drone assault so far in the war, Ukrainian authorities said, damaging a key building in the heavily guarded government district of the capital for the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia had launched 805 Iranian-designed Shahed exploding drones and decoys across the country, the latest in a relentless offensive that has continued unabated despite the Trump administration’s efforts to mediate peace talks
President Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who despite appeals from the White House has given little indication that he has softened any of his maximalist demands for a settlement. In the meantime, Russian forces have continued to bombard Ukraine, including targeting European and American assets in the capital, Kyiv, and killing civilians.
Sunday’s assault came three days after European leaders — including Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany and President Emmanuel Macron of France — met to propose a framework for security guarantees in postwar Ukraine, assuming a cease-fire or peace settlement is reached.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said the strikes were “part of a clear pattern of escalation.”
“Every Russian attack is a deliberate choice and a message: Russia does not want peace,” she wrote on social media, adding that Kyiv’s allies would continue to support Ukraine’s defense industry and tighten sanctions on Moscow.