A snapshot of recent news from sources around the world on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Political Developments
Kyiv and Moscow entered direct talks over the war this week, just days after Ukraine performed a surprise drone attack targeting Russia’s bomber fleet. The two sides agreed to a prisoner swap, but otherwise made no progress on a peace process.
Alongside the negotiations, Russian media has published Russia’s list of demands for ending the war, which do not appear to have shifted from the Kremlin’s 2022 demands. Russia wants Ukraine to withdraw from remaining positions in the provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, as well as demobilize its Armed Forces. Moscow is moreover seeking an end to foreign arms supplies to Ukraine, and a guarantee that Kyiv will be banned from joining alliances such as NATO.
Moscow has accused Western powers of aiding Ukraine’s recent drone operation. Andrei Kelin, Russia’s ambassador to the UK, has attributed blame to Britain for Ukraine’s recent drone attacks, warning that Kyiv is escalating the conflict. Meanwhile, the British Council has been prohibited from re-entering Russia, further escalating tensions between Moscow and Western nations.
Military Assistance to Ukraine
Reports this week revealed that the U.S. recently began redirecting the supply of proximity fuzes from the Ukrainian Armed Forces to the U.S. Air Force instead, for use with CENTCOM. Those fuzes have been utilized in anti-drone munitions.
Europe can sustain Ukraine’s resistance even in the event of a complete cessation of U.S. military aid. Major General Christian Freuding, Germany’s coordinator for arms supplies, stated that European and Canadian military aid to Kyiv last year had already surpassed the estimated $20 billion provided by the United States.
In a press release published on Wednesday, the British government stated that it plans to deliver 100,000 drones of all types to Ukraine in 2025, a tenfold increase from the 10,000 delivered last year. London is devoting around GBP350 million ($473 million) towards the effort, out of GBP4.5 billion reserved for military aid to Ukraine for this year.
Also this week, Montenegro announced that it was beginning domestic UAV production with assistance from an American company, and will deliver the first batch of drones from this effort to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Battlefield Updates
Ukraine carried out a major drone attack on Russia’s strategic aviation fleet on Sunday, June 1, targeting five airbases with small FPV drones launched from containers. ‘Operation Spiderweb’, as the mission has been called, caused significant damage to dozens of parked Russian aircraft, including Tu-95, Tu-22, and Tu-160 bombers, as well as A-50 early warning aircraft. According to Ukrainian government officials, Kyiv planned the operation for 18 months, smuggling drones and modified containers into Russia. As many as 117 drones were launched in the attack.
It is not certain how many Russian aircraft were destroyed in the operation. Ukraine announced the destruction of over 40 aircraft, but U.S. intelligence estimates that close to two dozen bombers were hit, with around 10 destroyed. On Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov vowed that Russia’s industry would any repair damaged aircraft — but Russia will struggle to replace any destroyed airframes. The Tu-22 and Tu-95 are out of production, as is the A-50. Russia restarted only limited production of the Tu-160 several years ago.
A computer-animated video, below, details how the ‘Spiderweb’ drone attack was executed:
Just days after the drone attack on Russian air bases, Ukraine used underwater explosives to strike the Kerch Bridge, the vital road and rail link connecting Russia and Crimea. This marks the third time Ukraine has targeted the bridge, with the recent operation involving 1,100kg of explosives that “severely damaged” its foundations.
And on Friday, Ukraine said it carried out a new set of drone strikes on two airfields, Engels and Dyagilevo.
Russia executed one of the war’s largest air attacks on Friday, deploying over 400 drones and 40 missiles across Ukraine, resulting in at least three deaths and dozens of injuries. This widespread assault, which targeted “almost all” of Ukraine, followed the recent Ukrainian bomber raid on Moscow’s strategic fleet.
A source in Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence told Ukrainian media this week that Russia is believed to be producing around 170 Shahed UAVs (or related designs) daily, amounting to a monthly rate of over 5,000 drones. Russia has heavily employed the Shahed design for strikes against Ukraine.
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