As Ukraine Claws Back More Territory, Russia's Military Reveals Its Vulnerability

They were unstoppable - until they weren't. As Ukrainian advances seize more territory from Russian troops, its military is being forced to reveal the weaknesses that have prevented it from dominating its smaller Ukrainian adversaries. 

All the advantages Russia enjoyed have been frittered away by thoughtless, arrogant tactics that now give Ukrainian forces the battlefield momentum. JL

Yehor Lohinov and Mike Eckel report in RFE/RL:

In mid-May, Ukrainian forces clawed back more territory from Russian troops than they lost again this year. The Russians have suffered a net loss of territory, overall. "The war is increasingly unpopular in Russia, and Russia faces increasing challenges financing the war and keeping the flow of manpower. Ukraine, on the other hand, is intensifying its strikes against Russian battlefield logistics while constructing seemingly endless kilometers of obstacle belts behind the front lines. It's showing ordinary residents of Moscow that the war is not just something on YouTube or television and are truly beginning to feel the realities."

Putin Can No Longer Hide His Ukraine Catastrophe

The Kremlin's 'victory in Ukraine' narrative is unraveling in public, exposed by repeated Russian military failures on the battlefield, increasingly effective Ukrainian counteroffensives and its humiliating attacks on downtown Moscow. 

The million-plus deaths of poor ethnic minorities and prison inmates in Ukraine had begun to matter but the evident Ukrainian successes are now causing even Russian-supporting governments and media to change their tone in the face of this new reality. JL

Phillips O'Brien reports in The Atlantic:

The narrative Putin constructed about a mere “special military operation” that need not trouble Russia’s elites or middle class is now unraveling completely. Any pretense that Moscow can stay out of the war has vanished. Putin can no longer lull Muscovites into thinking his war does not involve them. The parade commemorating World War II was startlingly short and devoid of military hardware because the Russian dictator was terrified of Ukrainian drone attacks. A week later, Ukraine launched hundreds of drones and cruise missiles on Moscow, showing that its multiple rings of air defense have been thoroughly compromised. The basic dynamics of the war have shifted. Russia has weakened. Even without American help, Ukraine is getting stronger and shaping the war in its favor. The better the Russian people understand this, the worse Putin’s predicament gets.

Ukraine Destroys 68 Russian Artillery, 950 Troops In One Day

Russia's once-proud and fearsome artillery has been decimated by Ukraine, contributing further to the Kremlin's ability to launch offenses. 

The targeting of artillery systems by Ukrainian drones has made it more difficult for the Russians to deploy them on the battlefield. JL

Roman Kahanets reports in United24:

Russia lost 950 troops, 68 artillery systems, and 1,819 UAVs over the past 24 hours. Ukrainian forces also destroyed 5 tanks, bringing Russia’s total tank losses to 11,949, and 5 armored fighting vehicles, raising the cumulative figure to 24,599. Russia’s artillery losses rose to 42,579 systems. US Defense Intelligence Agency assessment stated that Ukraine had recaptured approximately 400 square kilometers of territory after thousands of Starlink terminals used by Russian forces were disabled, disrupting their communications on the battlefield.

Russian Fertility Rate Drops To Lowest Level Since Soviet Era

Russia's fertility rate has dropped to its lowest levels since the Soviet era, which ended over 35 years ago.

The reasons for the decline are the decimation of the male population in rural and poor urban areas due to the death rate for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, and to fears about the Russian economy, which have both inhibited the formation of new families. JL

Novaya Gazeta reports:

The average fertility rate in areas of Russia fell to its lowest level since Soviet times last year, citing data from state statistics agency Rosstat. The country’s rural total fertility rate (TFR) stood at 1.464 in 2025. For comparison, the rural TFR was 2.6 in 1990.  Russia's overall fertility rate in 2025 stood at 1.361, compared with 1.327 among the urban population. The rural rate saw the steepest year-on-year decline, falling by 0.06 compared with 2024. Rural areas have ceased to be the main driver of population replacement, as young people leave for cities in search of better-paying jobs and stronger infrastructure. 

Russians Despair As Kyiv's Road-Cutting 'Martian' Drones Choke Off Reinforcement

Russian troops are calling Ukraine's latest Hornet drone swarms "Martians" because the Russians believe they use technology developed by NASA for Mars missions. The reality is that they use visual navigation, comparing terrain features to an internal map, which makes them impossible to jam and difficult to detect or shoot down. 

The result is that the Ukrainians call them 'road-cutters' because they are making delivery of supplies and troops reinforcements almost impossible along the front, hampering the Kremlin's offensive and defensive operations, thereby enabling Ukrainian counterattacks and the decimation of Russian units. JL

David Hambling reports in Forbes:

Destroying tanks 10 miles away may be less important than destroying trucks100 miles away. Ukrainian medium range drone strikes, hitting targets at 7-120 miles, have ramped up in recent months. Ukraine's “Martian” drones are prowling the roads, destroying fuel tankers and other vehicles carrying supplies. Previously safe areas are at risk, supply lines threatened. The “Martian” nickname comes from Russian belief the drone uses technology developed by NASA for Mars missions; visual navigation, matching terrain features to an internal map. The result is a drone which cannot be detected or jammed, while reliably hitting moving targets. Shooting them down is difficult even with massed small arms. “The land route to Crimea resembles Afghanistan in the 1980s. The remains of destroyed vehicles are scattered along the roads. (Ukraine) is disrupting supply with drones.”

China Spurns Nvidia AI Chip Trump Says It Has Permission To Buy

China's refusal to let any of its companies buy Nvidia's H200 chip reflects the mirror image of US suspicion about Chinese tech products: pride, suspicion of security breaching 'back doors,' a, nd desire to become less dependent on the other country.

But China appears to have an ulterior motive, as well. Nvidia's H200, while powerful is not Nvidia's best performing, that being what it calls the Blackwell. Beijing is believed to want to build its own homegrown alternative AI chips, but if it is going to buy US chips, it wants only the best, so denying Nvidia any Chinese sales until it is given access to that one is part of their negotiating strategy. JL

Meaghan Tobin and Tripp Mickle report in the New York Times:

Chinese competitors have yet to build anything that rivals Nvidia’s best, and Mr. Trump’s decision that Nvidia could sell one of its chips, the H200, to China undercut years of U.S. policy to keep those chips out of China’s reach. But six months on, Beijing has not allowed any of its companies to buy one. Rather than turn to Nvidia, Chinese officials have pushed domestic companies toward homegrown alternatives.  Huawei, Cambricon, a start-up, and others are now producing chips that perform on par with the H200. Beijing may also be wary of allowing Nvidia purchases on national security grounds. (And)At Washington’s request, Nvidia has held back its most powerful chips from China, restricting sales to the US and allies. That chip, the Blackwell, outperforms anything available in the Chinese market. “By playing hard to get, Beijing may be hoping for access to better chips,” 

Putin Can't Count On Trump's Permission Trap As Ukraine's Own Weapons Hit Deep

For most of the first four years of Russia's Ukraine invasion, the Ukrainians were dependent on western - mostly US - weapons and, especially for long range munitions, those countries' permission to use them. It became a gatekeeping trap which Putin played artfully as his veiled threats fueled western anxiety about escalation, impelling them to demand that Ukraine pull its punches. No longer. 

A significantly increased percentage of Ukraine's ground, naval and aerial weaponry is now domestically produced, eliminating the need to beg for the right to hit back at the Russians. The results have been profound. Ukrainian attacks on weapons, ammunition and electronics plants, as well as on Russia's oil industry, has further thwarted Russian offensive efforts on the ground, as well as its ability to hit Ukraine from the air. Ukraine learned the hard way that self-sufficiency was the only way to defend itself. JL

Newsweek reports:

Putin can no longer count on the US being the gatekeeper of Ukraine. The shriek and bang of Ukrainian drones is heard well beyond Russia, where a "cloud of anxiety developed over the last four months." Kyiv's expanding domestic arsenal is making U.S. permission less decisive than industrial facts. Ukraine can go it alone, gaining options without American materiel. Ukraine's May 16-17 strike used local drones against a microchip plant 18 miles from Moscow and an oil pumping station 30 miles away. It has drones for missions of 900 miles, carrying 260 pounds of explosives. It also has cruise missiles which can travel 3,000 kms carrying a 1,150-kilo payload. The political effect is harder for Putin to quarantine because the war is becoming immediate for Russian civilians now experiencing economic pain, airport shutdowns, internet disruption and attacks near the capital of their country.