For years, the Kremlin tried to sell Russians the same bargain: stay passive, surrender your freedoms, do not ask questions, and in return the state will give you stability. But now Russians are losing exactly that. They are losing financial stability, business stability, regional stability, digital stability, and even the old psychological comfort of believing that war happens somewhere far away.

The Russian economy is under pressure. The banking system is losing trust. Big companies are entering what they themselves call an “epoch of survival.” Governors in frontline regions are being fired as scapegoats. Russian fears are changing. And Ukraine’s long-range capabilities are exposing the most important truth: Putin cannot protect the country he claimed to be defending.

RUSSIANS RUSH TO ATMS AS BANKING PANIC GROWS

Russians are withdrawing record amounts of cash from banks and ATMs. This is not a sign of prosperity. It is a sign of fear. People do not rush to take cash out of the banking system when they feel safe. They do it when they no longer trust the institutions that are supposed to protect their savings. In Russia, that distrust is growing for very practical reasons. Internet shutdowns are disrupting payments. Bank branches are closing, especially in distant regions. ATMs are introducing more restrictions. People cannot always access their own money when they need it.

This is especially dangerous for the Russian system because trust is the foundation of banking. A bank may look stable on paper, but if enough people believe their money is safer in their hands than in their accounts, the whole structure starts shaking from inside.

There is also a deeper historical fear here. Many Russians still remember how savings disappeared during the collapse of the Soviet Union. That trauma never fully vanished. So when the head of Russia’s Central Bank suggests that people’s deposits are one of the main resources that can support the economy, Russians understand the warning very well. They know the state may once again look at private savings as a source of survival for the regime.

This is why cash withdrawals matter politically. Every ruble taken from a bank is not only a financial act. It is also a vote of no confidence in Putin’s economy.

Watch more:

RUSSIA IS LOSING THE INITIATIVE

Russia is losing the initiative in its own war. Putin promised strength, escalation, and a successful spring offensive. Instead, Russia failed to deliver the results it promised. Ukrainian forces not only stopped many of Russia’s plans, but also regained territory. That matters because for a long time the war was described as a slow, exhausting stalemate. Now the picture is changing. Ukraine is adapting faster, innovating faster, and using Russia’s weaknesses more effectively.

One of the biggest changes is the range of Ukrainian strikes. For years, Russia relied on geography as part of its imperial mythology. Its vast territory was supposed to make it untouchable. The Urals, Siberia, and deep military-industrial cities were seen as safe zones, protected by distance and history. Even during the Second World War, many Soviet military plants were placed far from the western front because they were considered unreachable.

That assumption is now collapsing. Ukrainian drones and missiles can reach deep into Russia, including places that were never psychologically prepared for war. When explosions happen near Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, or other military-industrial sites far from Ukraine, Russians understand that the old map no longer works.

Russia wanted to make Ukraine afraid. Instead, Ukraine has forced Russia to discover vulnerability.

Watch more:

RUSSIA’S FEDERAL BUDGET IS BLEEDING TRILLIONS

Russia already faces a deficit of six trillion rubles, which is even worse than the most pessimistic expectations for the whole year. This is not just an accounting problem. This is the financial skeleton of the war. Every missile, every drone, every payment to soldiers, every attempt to keep factories alive, every subsidy to collapsing industries, every effort to protect Putin’s military machine requires money. And that money is becoming harder to find.

For years, the Kremlin relied on oil and gas revenues, reserves, and the National Wealth Fund to soften the damage. But the cushion is shrinking. The deficit is already larger than the remaining comfortable space the system once had. That means Putin is burning through the resources that were supposed to protect Russia during difficult times. And the difficult times are not accidental. They are the direct result of his war.

Industries are weakening. Companies are cutting staff. Some regions are experiencing salary delays. Workers in mining, construction, railways, medicine, education, and other sectors are beginning to feel that the war is not some patriotic television performance. It is the reason their lives are becoming poorer and less stable.

This is why the federal budget matters so much. When Russia lacks money, the war machine slows down. When salaries are delayed, public anger grows. When companies collapse, regional economies weaken. When the National Wealth Fund disappears, the regime loses its emergency reserve.

Putin wanted to conquer Ukraine. Instead, he is consuming the financial foundations of his own state.

Watch more:

PUTIN FIRES GOVERNORS AS REGIONS ASK QUESTIONS

As more Russian regions experience the consequences of war, people are asking questions the Kremlin does not want to answer. Why is there not enough air defense? Why are Ukrainian drones reaching military sites, oil depots, and infrastructure? Why are internet shutdowns making life harder instead of solving the problem? Why are Moscow and Putin’s residences protected more carefully than regions living under daily pressure?

Governors in frontline regions are trapped between reality and propaganda. On one side, they must repeat the Kremlin line that everything is under control. On the other side, they face real people who hear explosions, lose property, experience evacuations, and see that the war has reached their homes.

Some officials began speaking more openly. They raised questions about internet shutdowns, air defense, and the lack of proper support. But in Putin’s system, honesty is dangerous. The Kremlin does not need truth-tellers. It needs scapegoats.

By firing governors of Belgorod and Bryansk, Putin tries to redirect anger away from himself. The message is: the problem is not the president, not the invasion, not the failed strategy, but local officials who supposedly did not manage the situation well enough.

But this tactic has limits. People in these regions understand who started the war. They understand that governors did not decide to invade Ukraine. They did not design Russia’s defense strategy. They did not decide to prioritize Moscow, bunkers, and symbolic parades over actual regional security.

The more the Kremlin searches for scapegoats, the more it exposes the real problem: Putin’s system cannot admit failure because failure leads directly back to Putin.

Watch more:

BIG RUSSIAN BUSINESS ENTERS THE EPOCH OF SURVIVAL

Let`s look at a phrase now coming from Russian business itself: an “epoch of survival.” That phrase is important because it does not come from Ukrainian optimism or Western analysis. It comes from inside Russia’s economic reality. Major companies understand that this is no longer a period of temporary turbulence. It is a structural crisis.

Large Russian businesses are losing income. Some of the biggest names associated with Russian economic power are under serious pressure. Lukoil reportedly entered massive debt. Gazprom, Rosneft, Tatneft, and other major companies have seen their positions worsen. These are not small businesses that can quietly disappear without consequences. These are pillars of the Russian economy, regional budgets, and Putin’s old image of energy-based power.

The damage spreads downward. When large companies lose income, they cut investment, reduce operations, delay payments, and fire people. When workers lose jobs, smaller businesses around them also suffer. Shops, services, transport, cafes, local suppliers, and entire towns built around one major enterprise become vulnerable.

This is especially dangerous in Russia because many cities and regions are dependent on a single dominant industry or company. This Soviet-style structure means that when one enterprise collapses, the whole local ecosystem can collapse with it.

So the “epoch of survival” is not only about oligarchs losing money. It is about the weakening of entire regions. It is about workers becoming angrier, businesses becoming more desperate, and elites realizing that Putin’s war is destroying the very system that once made them rich.

For a long time, many of them were ready to tolerate the war as long as it seemed profitable or distant. Now it is neither.

Watch more:

RUSSIAN FEARS HAVE CHANGED

According to the poll discussed in our video, the top concerns inside Russia have changed. The main fears now include the economy, internet shutdowns, and attacks on Russian territory. This tells us a lot about the real state of the country.

A few years ago, Russian propaganda tried to fill people’s minds with artificial fears: NATO, “loss of greatness,” hostile neighbors, and imaginary threats from Ukraine. Now the fears are much more concrete. Russians worry about money. They worry about losing internet access. They worry about Ukrainian strikes reaching their territory. This is a major psychological shift.

The fear of attacks on Russian territory is especially significant. It means that the war has entered Russian consciousness not as propaganda, but as personal vulnerability. Russians can no longer simply watch destroyed Ukrainian cities on television and imagine that violence is something their state exports to others. They now understand that the consequences can return.

And this fear is growing because Ukraine’s long-range capabilities are growing. Military sites, oil infrastructure, air bases, factories, arsenals, and regions once considered safe are now within reach. The Russian population sees that the state cannot guarantee protection. That breaks the central promise of Putinism: obedience in exchange for security.

The economy frightens them because the war is making them poorer. Internet shutdowns frighten them because the state is now attacking their everyday life. Ukrainian strikes frighten them because Putin’s invasion has brought war back into Russia.

Together, these fears show a country that does not feel victorious. It feels exposed.

Watch more:

CLOSING THOUGHTS

This week’s news shows Russia entering a dangerous and revealing phase: the phase when the system has to fight the consequences of its own war.

The banking system is losing public trust. The federal budget is bleeding trillions. The National Wealth Fund is shrinking. Major companies are entering survival mode. Workers are losing jobs. Regions are becoming angry. Governors are being used as scapegoats. Internet shutdowns are making ordinary life harder. And Russian fears now revolve around the economy, digital isolation, and attacks on Russian territory.

Putin promised Russians stability, greatness, and protection. Instead, he gave them inflation, unemployment, restricted access to their own money, closed airports, burning military sites, nervous governors, failing businesses, and the fear that the war is coming home.

Ukraine’s strategy is working because it targets the real foundations of Russia’s aggression: military production, oil revenues, logistics, financial confidence, and imperial mythology. The goal is not symbolic revenge. The goal is survival, defense, and the demilitarization of the state that continues to attack Ukraine and threaten others.

The world needs to understand this clearly: Russia is not too strong to fail. Russia is already showing the signs of deep internal failure. And the faster Ukraine receives support, the faster this war machine can be weakened.

United we stand.

For many outside observers, the Russian Federation still appears uniform, centralized, and monolithic. But in reality, this enormous territory is home to many distinct nations, cultures, languages, and histories that have been suppressed by Moscow for centuries. In this conversation, we speak about Sakha culture, language, natural resources, environmental activism, Russia’s colonial policies, the disproportionate mobilization of Indigenous peoples, and the possibility of a democratic future beyond the Russian Federation.

For those who would like to watch the full conversation, the video is available here:

For many outside observers, the Russian Federation appears uniform. What should they understand first about Sakha, its culture, language, and traditions?

Anna Danylchuk: Could you introduce us to the people of Sakha? I was so surprised to learn the size of the Sakha Republic, how rich it is, how important it is for the survival of the Russian Federation, and also how distinct your people are from people we encounter in Moscow or elsewhere.

Viliuia Choinova: The Republic of Sakha actually has six Indigenous nations, Sakha being one of the largest groups. I am Sakha as well. The other five are Chukchi, Yukaghir, Dolgan, Even, and Evenk people. We are all Indigenous to the region. We are peoples of the North. We all have different languages. The only other ethnic group that we can understand, because we have similar languages, is the Dolgan people. We can understand each other quite well, like Swedish and Norwegian people, for example. The rest have very distinct and different languages, and they are considered small-numbered Indigenous peoples.

Sakha is the largest ethnic group, and the republic was named after us. We were colonized by Russia 400 years ago, and colonization is now taught in schools as if it was voluntary. They say we joined Russia of our own free will, and this is not true. There was a long, decades-long war against the colonizers. Our national hero, whose name was Tygyn Darkhan, was the first one to unite all these peoples and all the tribes that had been living separately to face this threat. Why for the first time? Because before that, it was not needed. People lived separately, and it was not needed to unite against something, against such a big threat as Russian colonization.

So 400 years passed. Actually, 300 years after that, we fought again against the Russians to establish our own autonomous republic. Then, in the 1990s, there were also big protests and a movement. Before that, we tried to get the status of a Union Republic, like Ukraine or Kazakhstan had. Unfortunately, that did not work. So we were left as an autonomous republic. There were many protests, and we almost did get independence, but unfortunately, the Russians invaded Chechnya, so we had to settle for a federative agreement.

Now we are facing another major crisis, the war in Ukraine. Of course, everyone is affected by this war, not just Indigenous peoples, but also, I think, Central Asian countries, Baltic states, and so on. Everybody is trying to review their policies and their relationship with Russia again, and of course this concerns us as well.

Our languages are very distinct. Russians cannot understand our languages. On the cultural side, we were forcibly Christianized, but we are pagans, or what is called shamanism or Tengrism. Our biggest holiday is midsummer, which will be soon, on June 21. We call it our New Year. I guess that is the most basic part.

Sakha is rich in gold, diamonds, oil, and gas. Do local communities truly benefit from this wealth, or does it primarily serve Moscow?

Anna Danylchuk: I know that the Republic of Sakha is extremely rich. It is perhaps one of the first associations you get: beautiful nature, extremely powerful landscapes, and also rich natural resources: diamonds, gold, oil, and gas. Unfortunately, the Russian Federation is a resource economy: dig and sell, as they say. Being so rich, do people in Sakha feel this wealth that their nature gives them, or does everything flow to the Kremlin?

Viliuia Choinova: I specifically did not mention natural resources in my basic introduction of the republic, because for us it has been a blessing and a curse. We do not see any wealth from it. It all goes through Moscow.

Colonization happened because of natural resources. First, it was the fur trade, and then they found diamonds. It just continued to be resource extraction from the republic. So it is not something that we are proud of. Yes, we know that the republic is super rich in natural resources, and yet we do not benefit from it at all. The Power of Siberia gas pipeline is actually coming from my homeland and going to Europe, or at least it was going to Europe, while 80% of the republic is not even gasified. We are not using our own gas. We do not see any income from that.

Since Putin came to power in the early 2000s, all the biggest taxpayers must register in Moscow. Therefore, they pay taxes in Moscow, not to the republic. Then Moscow gives us back what they call dotatsii, which means that 70% of the income goes to Moscow, and then they give us back 30% of our own money.

Why does the Kremlin view independent activism with suspicion, and how does the Sakha autonomy movement continue under such conditions?

Anna Danylchuk: I also know that you are an eco-activist and an engineer working in this area. I have this feeling that any kind of activism becomes dangerous in the Russian Federation. We observed protests in Bashkortostan that were directly linked to ecology. I have a friend in Ukraine who managed to flee occupied Melitopol, and she was a cycling activist. They were building special parts of the road for bicycles and introducing this culture. She told me they were among the first to be targeted by the Russian invaders, stopped and examined, because they were activists, because they had groups, chats, and connections. Do you feel that any kind of activism is becoming dangerous in the Russian Federation? And in such conditions, how do the people of Sakha, or other republics that think about their future, work?

Viliuia Choinova: Yes, absolutely. Any activism is a threat to the regime, because activists have the opportunity to organize and mobilize people for their causes. In national republics, like you mentioned Bashkortostan, environmental issues and Indigenous peoples’ rights are inseparable. They always go together, because we are inseparable from the land. Environmental issues can become, and in history often have become, something bigger, more political, more cultural. It includes language, land, everything. So yes, of course Moscow is going to be very afraid of that. We remember how, even before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we had the shaman Alexander Gabyshev. He was going to Moscow to exorcise Putin because he said Putin was a demon.

Anna Danylchuk: And he was right.

Viliuia Choinova: He was right. But it was only one person, and they were terrified of him, because people started joining him while he was walking from the Sakha Republic to Moscow. So yes, it is a huge threat. Now the Kremlin sees everyone, especially Indigenous activists, as separatists or terrorists. It does not matter if you are a language activist or an environmental activist: you are seen as a threat.

We saw it last year when they designated 172 organizations as terrorist, and most of them were Indigenous. They did not care if they were political organizations that wanted independence or just cultural actors. There was no difference in their eyes.

Anna Danylchuk: I also know that the Kremlin describes and classifies Indigenous peoples in a very wrong way, with this limit of 50,000 people. You talked about that in your interviews, which I watched while preparing.

Viliuia Choinova: Yes. The federal law that Moscow has says that Indigenous peoples can only be those peoples who have a population of 50,000 or less, and those who still live traditional ways of life, meaning hunting and gathering. So basically, they have no right to infrastructure or technology. They have to live in their huts and in the taiga. Then they are considered Indigenous, and they can enjoy the protections that are in place under these laws. But if you go above this limit, then you are no longer Indigenous, you have no rights, and your land can be used for federal purposes. You have no way of protecting it. For Putin personally, the collapse of the USSR was the most tragic thing that happened in his life. He is trying to get Ukraine back to Russia. And of course there is a possibility that national republics, which have very distinct national identities and are very different from Russians, can also go their own separate ways. That is a huge threat for him and a nightmare.

Many observers note that Russia’s mobilization has disproportionately affected ethnic minorities. Do you see this in Sakha, and how do people respond to the war against Ukraine?

Anna Danylchuk: There is a question that I want to ask you, but it is quite difficult for me here in Ukraine because of the Russian soldiers. Many international observers and international organizations say that conscription is also very ethnically marked inside the Russian Federation, and that they mobilize many people from what the Kremlin calls ethnically diverse regions. To some extent, this is also a crime against these peoples. Is it true? Do you observe such tendencies? And how do ordinary people in Sakha feel about Russia’s war against Ukraine?

Viliuia Choinova: Yes, it is true that they target the poorest regions in Russia, and that often means national republics, because of extractivism. We actually recently did an investigative report to see how this has changed in the Republic of Sakha over the past four years, how people were mobilized, how many people died, and so on. There we can clearly see that Indigenous people were targeted. We currently have over 3,000 dead. That is only from open sources, because the government does not issue any such data. Sixty percent of them are Indigenous peoples, while 40% are Russians and others. So we can clearly see this, especially compared to Moscow, which is basically almost untouched by mobilization and conscription. The numbers compared to the populations of these regions are quite high in the faraway regions. Of course, we also have many anti-war people, including myself, and we actively support Ukraine. We think that peace on Ukraine’s terms is the only way to end this war. Otherwise, nothing will change for Russia, and especially for Indigenous peoples, things will only become worse.

Anna Danylchuk: We see that such attitudes bring more and more wars and conflicts. It is the effect of unpunished evil growing. That is exactly what we experience right now.

Viliuia Choinova: Exactly. It is never-ending. We also need to review the Chechen wars, obviously. In my work and my political activism, I often meet European politicians and diplomats, and they ask me: in your view, what did we do wrong in February 2022? I say: 2022? Do you want to go back to 2014, or maybe even further, to the 1990s?

Anna Danylchuk: Or 2008, Georgia.

Viliuia Choinova: Exactly. There were so many things happening before 2022 that led up to this war. It was almost inevitable, because Russia was never punished for anything.

As for the feelings of people now about the war, they are definitely getting tired of it, like many people even in Europe. There are anti-war people who are actively doing something, and then there are pro-war people who are obviously participating in this war. Then there are the people in between, who are the majority, and they are very far away, kind of detached from the war. Logically and logistically, people do not really think about Ukraine because Ukraine is a distant country for us. It is a foreign country. We do not have any brotherly relationship, no matter what the propaganda is trying to tell us, that we need to go protect our brothers in Ukraine. That does not concern us.

I support Ukraine not because Ukrainians are my brothers, but because I acknowledge that Ukraine is a sovereign country. It is a foreign country to me, and Russia has no right to invade it. For many people, it is like the war in Iran; that is how they view Ukraine. But we also have many grievances against Moscow. So the negativity is becoming directed mostly toward Moscow.

Do you believe Sakha could one day become independent, and what kind of future do people hope to build?

Anna Danylchuk: I believe that the more problems Putin collects and the more failures he has, the more even his former supporters will blame him for these problems. We all understand this kind of fatigue, but here in Ukraine soldiers often say: if you are tired, you are lucky. We do not have the luxury of being tired, even though we are.

Somehow I get this slight feeling that more and more people, at least in Europe, are coming to understand that we do need to demilitarize Russia. We do need to defeat it, not reboot relations with it, but finally defeat evil and then return to living, because drones are more and more often visiting NATO countries, and this does not happen accidentally.

At the same time, we have witnessed many moments when the White House or the European Union decided to reboot relations with the Kremlin. I already have in my memory many photos of various American presidents shaking hands with the same Putin for a quarter of a century, rebooting these relations because somehow they could not imagine life on the planet without the Russian Federation as it is. I had a very interesting interview with Radjana Dugar-DePonte, who is an activist for Buryat Mongol people and Free Nations. She gave me a very powerful idea: maybe after so many failed attempts to build democracy in the Russian Federation, it is time to give a chance to other nations that are now oppressed by the Kremlin. Maybe they will surprise the world by building trustworthy, normal, more or less healthy democracies. And perhaps others will still have access to oil and gas, for example from Sakha, but under better conditions, while you receive 100% of your income. Do you think people in Sakha consider such things? Have they thought about independence? Do they aspire to such ideas? Is it actually possible?

Viliuia Choinova: Yes, of course. As I told you a little bit about history, there was always a fight for independence, or at least more autonomy within the federation, but it never worked. It always went back to the fact that we are a resource colony. Therefore, Moscow must take everything away. As for economic independence, I believe that everybody in our republic, including Russians, would want that from Moscow, to be economically independent, because they see that everything is going away and nothing is staying in the republic.

In the 1990s, for example, when we declared our sovereignty and drafted our first constitution, we actually wrote all of this: that we wanted to be independent from Moscow, that all resources, or most of the resources, should stay in the republic, and so on.

We could see the effects immediately. Money was staying in the republic, infrastructure was being built, and we started making agreements directly, without Moscow, with other countries like Finland, the UK, South Korea, and Alaska. There were student exchanges and many exchange programs in place. Many people benefited from that and are still alive today, people who experienced it personally. We actually call the 1990s a demo version of independence, because we were actually independent. We had presidents and prime ministers of different countries coming to visit us, and they visited our midsummer celebrations as well.

Today, this is practically unimaginable. We are so isolated. We are so far away. We have an airport in Yakutsk that is called an international airport, and yet there are no international flights anywhere in the world. We have to travel via Moscow if we want to go anywhere else, either via Moscow or via Novosibirsk. So yes, I do believe that, at this point, because of the effects of the war and Russia’s centralized politics on our republic, independence is almost a form of protection, of defense. Then we can finally use international law to protect ourselves, because today we are still seen as an internal problem of Russia.

We do not have access even to human rights laws and protections that exist for example for Ukraine. You are an independent country, and you have many more tools to protect yourselves. Of course, you do not have many tools against bombs and drones, but you can use international law, and you will definitely use it after the war to demand justice and accountability for yourselves. Indigenous peoples do not have that.

For those still discovering how distinct Sakha is from imperial Russia, what is one important difference they should understand?

Anna Danylchuk: That is actually very important. Sometimes, even after really hard nights, people in Ukraine still say: thank God I am not Russian, because we do have mechanisms to protect ourselves or at least to speak the truth. We do not have internet shutdowns, even during really bad periods of electricity outages caused by Russian attacks.

Let us finish our interview with something lighter and interesting. Maybe you could sum it up and introduce us to some very Sakha quality, something very distinct for people around the world to recognize you. It would also be interesting if you could teach us a phrase or something in your language.

Viliuia Choinova: The one thing that comes to mind immediately is that we call ourselves children of nature. That was our belief system, and it is still in place now. When we went through forced Christianization during colonization, in Russian Orthodoxy there is this saying: they call themselves “slaves of God.” That directly contradicts our mentality and our belief system.

Anna Danylchuk: I know that Ukrainians are also Orthodox Christians, but in our case, it was a very humanistic branch compared to the Moscow Orthodox Church. I know what you are talking about: this suffering, serfdom, and all of that. Not the favorite child of God, but just a serf. That is what they spread.

Viliuia Choinova: Yes. I hope that our people will come back to that and remember who they are: that we are children of nature. So are Ukrainians. We do not have anything against Ukrainians. I know that people who are participating in this war, of course, bear personal responsibility. They have to pay for their crimes, for war crimes in Ukraine. But at the end of the day, the responsibility for this war lies with Russia and its fascist ideology of Russkiy Mir.

When these people join the Russian army, they lose their agency. They are no longer advocating for themselves. They become imperial soldiers, and somehow they are protecting Russian-speaking people in Ukraine. That goes against our beliefs, against our culture. There is actually no benefit for them, and they do not understand that. Unfortunately, Russian propaganda is still quite strong, but we continue to try to reach them.

Anna Danylchuk: We sometimes look at the example of the war in Afghanistan here in Ukraine too. It was super exhausting for the USSR, and the USSR fought it also by conscripting people from other republics, not from Moscow. We agree that there were also many Ukrainians there, and they were fighting for something that was definitely not theirs. This is also Russia’s imperial war, and this exhausting war, losses, and anger accumulated in the republics, among people losing their sons, were among the contributing factors to the collapse of the USSR, we believe.

Viliuia Choinova: Yes, that is the hope. But unfortunately, this time it is at the expense of Ukrainians, and I really wish it were not like this. For Europeans, I would say that thinking we can go back to February 23, 2022, and everything will be great is wrong. No, it is not going to be great if we do not dismantle this system that is always using other peoples to fight its own imperial wars.

There is no need to be afraid that national republics are going to become independent. We can just look back thirty years, to the 1990s, and see what my republic and my people were doing. We were actually doing all these democratic things that Europeans want from Russia. And what was Russia doing? They were invading Chechnya. So we are very different peoples, and we actually know what democracy is. We had several presidents change during the time when Putin was president.

Anna Danylchuk: Very unusual for Russia.

Viliuia Choinova: Yes. Some of our people probably will not even remember all their names. They probably will not be able to tell you who all the presidents were. We should be given a chance to build democratic countries instead of Russia, which has been given chances over and over again and failed every single time.

This week, Russia was preparing for its sacred imperial ritual, the Victory Day parade in Moscow. But instead of strength, order, and fear, the world saw something very different: panic, cancelled flights, internet shutdowns, empty skies, missing leaders, exposed air defense systems, and a dictator hiding deeper and deeper in his bunkers.

Ukraine’s drones and missiles are not just changing the military balance. They are changing the psychology of Russia. They are showing ordinary Russians, Russian elites, and the rest of the world that Putin’s empire is weaker than it pretends to be.

Here are this week’s videos.

PANIC SPREADS IN MOSCOW AND ST. PETERSBURG

The first video looks at the atmosphere of fear in Russia’s two biggest cities before the parade. Moscow and St. Petersburg were surrounded by visible air defense systems, while internet shutdowns disrupted daily life, businesses, and communications.

The most important part is not only that Russians are afraid of Ukrainian drones. It is that they now see the gap between official propaganda and their own reality. They are told that Russia is strong and protected, but they see air defense systems on the streets, airports disrupted, and their internet switched off.

In 2022, Russian propagandists were dreaming of a parade in Kyiv. In 2026, they are afraid to hold one in Moscow.

Watch the video:

A DRONE NEAR THE KREMLIN AND PUTIN IN THE BUNKERS

The second video focuses on a spectacular moment: Moscow was hit only a few kilometers from the Kremlin and Russia’s Ministry of Defense. This happened despite the layers of air defense around the capital.

But the military aspect is only one part of the story. The political meaning is even bigger. Reports suggest that Putin has been avoiding public appearances and staying in bunkers, afraid not only of Ukrainian drones, but also of possible threats from inside his own system.

For years, Putin built his image around control. Now the image is cracking. Moscow residents are asking how a drone could reach the heart of the capital. Elites are watching. Generals are watching. And fear is spreading in both directions: from Ukraine’s military pressure and from possible internal betrayal.

Watch the video:

FLAMINGOS FLY DEEP INTO RUSSIA

The third video is about Ukraine’s “Flamingo” missiles reaching Chuvashia, more than 1,200 kilometers away, and striking a military production site connected to antennas and navigation systems for Russian drones and missiles.

This is important because Russia depends on such systems to make its weapons more effective against Ukraine. When these sites are hit, Ukrainian lives are saved.

But there is also a psychological dimension. Seventeen Russian regions experienced missile alerts. People far from Ukraine suddenly had time to think about the war they once believed would remain distant. The geography of fear has expanded. The Russian rear is no longer safely hidden behind distance.

The message is simple: Russia’s war is returning home.

Watch the video:

CHAOS INSIDE RUSSIA’S ELITES

The fourth video looks at something that would have been almost unthinkable not long ago: more and more Russian public figures are openly criticizing Putin.

Social media influencers, lawyers, deputies, business figures, military commentators, and people close to different parts of the Russian system are no longer limiting criticism to local officials or the central bank. Some are now speaking directly about Putinism, illegitimacy, failure, and the need for change.

One of the main tensions appears to be between the presidential administration and the FSB. One side understands that internet shutdowns, tax increases, and economic collapse are making people furious. The other side wants more repression and more control.

And Putin himself? He hides, gives orders remotely, and looks increasingly detached from the country he claims to rule.

Watch the video:

MOSCOW AIRPORTS PARALYZED

The fifth video is about Moscow’s airports cancelling hundreds of flights because of Ukrainian drones. Thousands of people were stuck, many of them businesspeople, influencers, and other people with platforms and networks.

This matters because the inconvenience is not abstract anymore. It touches the people who live in Moscow, who often supported the war from a safe distance. Now they are experiencing panic, disruption, uncertainty, and humiliation.

The video also explains the terrible state of Russian civilian aviation. Because of sanctions, Russia cannot properly maintain many foreign aircraft. They have been cannibalizing planes for parts, while the dream of building a fully Russian civilian aircraft has turned into another long and embarrassing failure.

Putin promised power. He delivered grounded flights, unsafe aviation, and fear in the capital.

Watch the video:

RUSSIA KEEPS BURNING

The sixth video is an extended geography lesson, because Ukrainian drones reached several important targets across Russia.

An aviation control center in Rostov-on-Don was hit, disrupting airports across southern Russia. An oil refinery in Perm was targeted. And near Yekaterinburg, behind the Ural Mountains, a major arsenal and production site connected to Russian glide bombs was neutralized.

These strikes have two effects. First, they reduce Russia’s ability to kill Ukrainians. Second, they show Russians that Putin cannot protect even deep military infrastructure once considered unreachable.

This is not a victory parade. This is Russia entering May with burning military sites, closed airports, angry citizens, and growing doubts about the man who promised them greatness.

Watch the video:

PUTIN’S LAST PARADE?

The seventh video covers the parade itself. President Zelensky’s humorous order “allowing” Russia to hold the parade in Moscow captured the absurdity of the moment perfectly.

The parade lasted only around 45 minutes. There were no impressive columns of tanks, no real display of military power, and very few foreign leaders. Many who once came to Moscow stayed away. Even countries and leaders that used to orbit Russia more closely are now visibly distancing themselves.

For days, Russia shut down internet connections, restricted movement, and surrounded Moscow with fear just to hold a short, empty, fragile performance.

The most telling phrase repeated after the event was: Putin’s last parade.

Whether literally true or not, it captured the mood. Putin looked tired. Russia looked diminished. And the parade that was supposed to display imperial power became a symbol of decline.

Watch the video:

CLOSING THOUGHTS

This week showed one thing very clearly: Ukraine is not simply defending itself. Ukraine is changing the course of this war. The Russian empire was built on fear, distance, and the illusion of invincibility. But distance no longer protects Russia. Fear is moving in the opposite direction. And the illusion is becoming harder to maintain.

Putin wanted to frighten Ukraine and impress the world. Instead, he is hiding in bunkers, begging for symbolic pauses, shutting down the internet, cancelling flights, and watching his parade turn into a public demonstration of weakness. Thank you for reading, sharing, commenting, and standing with Ukraine. Your attention helps spread the truth, and the truth is one of the things dictators fear most.

United we stand.

These days in May are very special because we commemorate the victims of the Second World War. Throughout my childhood and youth, I always associated the generation of war and the children of war with my grandparents. But recently, when we speak about children of war, the realities of war, and war generations, we are actually speaking about ourselves. There are many Ukrainian children who were born during the three years of the full-scale invasion and the eleven years of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

In this conversation with Hanna Hopko, one of Ukraine’s leading foreign policy experts and the head of the National Interests Advocacy Network ANTS, we discuss whether World War II really ended in 1945, or whether totalitarianism simply changed faces. We speak about why the USSR never faced justice, which myths still fuel Russia’s World War II narrative, whether today’s war is already World War III or the next phase of Russia’s imperial war, and what Nuremberg can teach us about holding Russia accountable today.

For those who would like to watch the full conversation, the video is available here:

Did WWII really end in 1945, or did totalitarianism just change faces?

Anna Danylchuk: As we speak at the beginning of May, Ukraine is a country that suffered greatly during the Second World War. There is one difficult question I want to discuss. In 1945, the defeat of Nazism was celebrated, and today we have a strong democratic Germany. But unfortunately, communist Soviet crimes continued for decades, with millions of victims of that regime. In this context, can we say that the epoch of totalitarianism was truly defeated during the Second World War, or does it continue until now?

Hanna Hopko: It is really important to say that we Ukrainians suffered for centuries from Moscow, the Soviet Union, and now the Russian Federation, from their imperialism. When the Nazi regime was defeated, unfortunately, Stalinist communism expanded its influence over Eastern Europe. One occupation replaced another one. It happened because of the geopolitical pragmatism of that time. Every year, we commemorate our fallen heroes and say “never again.” But unfortunately, for years, Ukrainians, with such a fighting spirit, have been defending free Europe, sacrificing the lives of the best of our nation.

It is important to understand the lessons from the defeat of the Nazi regime, but not the defeat of Stalinist communism. If we really want to have a peaceful sky over Europe, we need to learn these lessons. Eleven years ago, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Russia acted alone. Now it is an axis of tyrannies. We already have Chinese soldiers in the European theater, and before that we saw North Korean soldiers. This is why the stakes are really very high. I think it is very important to explain the price we paid for Yalta, and why Putin does not want to end the war. He wants to win the war. He wants a new Yalta. He wants, together with the United States and probably China, to shape a new world order and divide the world into spheres of influence. This is very simple.

Why has the USSR never faced justice, and what has that silence cost the world?

Anna Danylchuk: You are right. It is unbelievable how we do not learn from the mistakes of the past, like the Yalta Conference. One thing we clearly see is the tremendous difference between how past crimes are treated in Germany and in modern Russia. Germany has become one of the strongest democratic countries. In Russia, it is totally acceptable to worship Stalin. You can see Stalin at the May parades. You can see him almost as an icon in churches, which is completely absurd. The process of reckoning did not happen in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. All this Soviet-era legacy became a new set of saints and superheroes for the modern Russian Federation. Why do you think this happened? And why do so many people in the world not pay attention to the fact that if you praise Hitler in Germany, it is a crime, but if you worship Stalin in modern Russia, it is treated as patriotism?

Hanna Hopko: Unfortunately, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow and the Kremlin did not adopt a decommunization law, unlike what happened in Germany with denazification. In Germany, there was condemnation and criminal responsibility for praising Hitler. I have one dream, and I believe that one day it will come true: to see, on Red Square in Moscow, instead of Lenin’s mausoleum and monuments to Stalin, monuments to the victims of Russian imperialistic wars.

After Nazi Germany was defeated, Germany understood this, and they never praised Hitler. It became part of state policy. In Russia, it is the opposite. Until we see monuments to the victims of Russian imperialistic wars against many sovereign states and independent nations, we will continue to see the cult of Stalin, and this legacy will be repeated again. There is no difference between tsarist Moscow, the Soviet Union, and today’s Russian Federation. They keep this practice of killing and destroying.

Anna Danylchuk: That is the big gap. Even in Ukraine, previously pro-Russian forces tried to promote this myth about the Great Patriotic War. On the anniversary of World War II, there was a special operation with the St. George ribbon. They tried to celebrate this victory with a lot of propaganda, using their representatives inside Ukraine and destabilizing the situation.

Hanna Hopko: Yes. In Ukraine, we adopted important legislation on decommunization. We renamed streets, cities, and towns, and demolished monuments to KGB representatives. This is another way of cleaning our society from this evil heritage.

Anna Danylchuk: In modern Russia, by contrast, they are like Frankenstein. They change their disguise. First they are an empire, then the Soviet Union, now the Russian Federation. But all these evil, toxic traces remain.

Which myths still fuel Russia’s WWII narrative, and who gets erased in the process?

Anna Danylchuk: Hanna, you travel a lot. You are doing an amazing job explaining Ukraine, the essence of our fight, and the importance of our joint future in Europe to the world. I am sure you still encounter many myths that circulate about the Second World War. Somehow Russia managed to steal the victory entirely for itself, forgetting the contribution of other nations like Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, and even the tremendous support from the United States. What are the top myths you still have to fight, and how do you fight them?

Hanna Hopko: It is really important not to allow Russia to monopolize or privatize the victory over Nazi Germany, Nazism, and fascism. On Victory Day, we need to commemorate the victims of World War II, but not in Moscow. We should do it in Kyiv. There are different calculations and different historical facts, but it is obvious that Ukraine, being in the prison of the USSR, paid the biggest price. I remember the initiative of members of the European Parliament in 2019, including Rasa Juknevičienė, former Minister of Defense of Lithuania and now a member of the European Parliament, and Andrius Kubilius, now EU Commissioner for Defence and Space. They proposed an initiative of commemoration in Kyiv, explaining why Ukraine, fighting against Russian imperialism, deserves to be recognized as the biggest contributor to the victory over the Nazis.

We also have to remind people around the world how World War II started, and about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. This was the idea of destroying Europe by destroying independent states, when Hitler and Stalin secretly agreed on new spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. This is how World War II started. Then, of course, many Western capitals decided to bring the USSR onto their side to fight against Hitler. But at the beginning, it is very important to remember how and who started the Second World War, what the motivation was, and not to allow Russia to privatize the victory and say that it was the only country responsible for it. The biggest contribution and the bloodiest scenes of the war also happened on Ukrainian territory.

Is this World War III, or just the next phase of Russia’s imperial war?

Anna Danylchuk: We speak in the context of ceasefire and peace talks, and people still avoid naming things as they are. Sometimes you can still see phrases like “Ukraine conflict,” not “Russia’s war against Ukraine,” even after years of full-scale war. Sometimes I feel that people are more afraid of the terms “genocide” or “world war” than of genocide or world war itself. They are simply afraid to pronounce the words. Quite often, this pressure on Ukraine to stop defending itself is connected with not provoking the Third World War. What do you think? Maybe this Third World War is already happening, because there is no specific date when you proclaim that it has started. You mentioned that China is fighting on the side of Russia. The North Korean government openly confirmed the presence of its soldiers in Europe. So is this World War III, or maybe a continuation of the Second World War? How do you feel about that?

Hanna Hopko: This is a very important question, and thank you for raising it. I am thankful to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, especially Minister Sybiha, who, during hearings in the Helsinki Commission of the US Congress, requested that the US Congress recognize Russian aggression as genocide against Ukraine and Ukrainians, and provided legal arguments for this. It is really important to understand Russia’s motive, the scale of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and also to explain to our partners that by sacrificing Ukraine and appeasing the aggressor, you will never achieve sustainable peace. By feeding the crocodile, you will be next. Do not believe that if Ukraine is eaten, you are saved.

Now it is clear, and we have analyzed the institutional cooperation between the alliance of tyrannies: the exchange of intelligence, sharing of intelligence data, military drills, the intensification of cybersecurity cooperation, increased trade in dual-use products, and so on. Ukraine is probably number one in having this unique experience of countering not just one state, but the axis of evil countries. We call them the four horses, or five horses, of the apocalypse.

It is important to explain that with Ukraine, the world has better chances to defeat evil states. Especially in Brussels, when the EU is planning to become a defense union and a geopolitical player, I am trying to explain: the faster you confiscate Russian sovereign assets within the #MakeRussiaPay campaign, the better you are equipped with money to increase defense production. Ukraine has unique drone production facilities and unique experience. The better prepared we are, the higher the chances of deterrence, so that European nations are not attacked, and so that we can win.

I believe this war is winnable. It is a question of political will. Do not be afraid. This is the key message for the West, because some capitals are more afraid of Ukraine’s victory than Russia’s defeat. They are afraid of the defeat of Russian imperialism. I have observed this for the last eleven years.

Now it is time to finally explain that sustainable peace without justice, or at the expense of justice, and without security guarantees can never be achieved. Just as in World War II, without Ukraine there would have been no victory. Now, without Ukraine, without our unique experience, without our fighting spirit, you could never win, because modern warfare has changed. It has shifted to electronic warfare and drones. This is why Ukraine is an asset. We have to explain, especially to Trump and his administration, what is at stake for America. It is about the credibility of the United States. “Make America Great Again” does not mean America acting alone, or against its strategic partners, or in cooperation with Russia through a reset and secret talks. This is really very dangerous. I hope that the US Congress will finally demand from Trump and his administration, using congressional oversight, that they report how they are defending American interests first. At stake is American leadership as a superpower and American credibility. So we should ask Trump: do not restore Russia. Do not weaken Russia’s defeat. And do not lose America. I just visited Washington, DC, and what I heard from some experts, former secretaries of state, and different ambassadors was this: Hanna, for us, it is now crucially important to make America good again. It is not even about making America great again.

What can Nuremberg teach us about holding Russia accountable today?

Anna Danylchuk: I want to end with an optimistic undertone. I do not believe that anything can break the will of the Ukrainian people to win this war and to see justice, because justice is vital. It is not only about defeating and demilitarizing Russia. We also need to deliver justice. Justice was an important part of victory in the Second World War. I have read many books saying that in 1944, many Nazi generals were trying to assassinate Hitler and start negotiations with the Allies because they clearly saw that the end was coming. They wanted to save themselves, reshape the country somehow, and remain in power.

We do not want this to happen with Putin and company, and with all the people responsible for thousands of war crimes in Ukraine and this real genocide. What lessons can we learn from the Nuremberg trials and from the end of the Second World War for lasting peace, for a normal strategy, and even for the Russian population? I do not call them citizens, but for the Russian population too, because they have never experienced what democracy is. We cannot expect them to simply build it. It is very dangerous to appease evil and follow capitulation plans after we have gained so many victories and so much experience. What lessons can we learn from the end of the Second World War for the real defeat of Russia?

Hanna Hopko: Thank you for this very philosophical and ideological question, because it is about Russian imperialism. The collapse of the Soviet Union became the end of communist ideology, but not the end of Russian imperialism, with all its genocidal practices against many nations.

What we are observing now inside Russia is not only economic problems. There are many cracks in the economy, plus tensions in different regions, because ethnic cleansing is also happening when Putin’s regime sends many Buryats, Kalmyks, and different peoples to war. Some of them, especially at the beginning, were simply mobilized. There is also the level of poverty. Russian oligarchs grabbed the natural resources of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. We have the campaign #MakeRussiaSmallAgain, #MakeRussiaMuscovyAgain, the famous T-shirts and T-shirt diplomacy. We are trying to explain Russian imperial ambitions and how Russia expanded from the very tiny size of Moscow. By the way, this is one of Putin’s biggest fears: that the Russian Federation might turn into the size of Moscow.

Honestly, if you see what is happening in Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Udmurtia, and Yakutia, I am not sure that people are really satisfied with the general policy of the current modern totalitarian regime. In DC, we discussed with many representatives of Congress that, first, it is impossible and very naive for some American representatives to try to decouple Russia from China. They are ideologically very similar, even though China has its own expansionism in a very sophisticated way, while Russia has its imperialism.

Second, I do not believe in any ceasefire. I remember the beginning of the Russian invasion, from 2014 to 2019, when Ukraine was under huge pressure from our Western partners telling us: Ukrainians, do not ask for lethal weapons, only political and diplomatic means, only peaceful settlement. Meanwhile, Russia was preparing for full-scale war and had already started hybrid warfare against NATO and EU countries, including subversion, sabotage, interference in elections, and other actions. We discussed many things, and I am trying to explain: do not buy the ceasefire or negotiations. Only Russian defeat, justice, and a tribunal like Nuremberg are key to helping Russia become free from this Soviet legacy, Stalinist communist regime, and the current Russian regime.

I never support it when some so-called good Russians say there are two wars: one Putin’s war against Ukraine, and the second Putin’s war against Russians. No, guys. There is Russian imperialism, and either you fight against it and change your society, or you do not. Look at what is happening with abducted Ukrainian children, whom we are demanding to bring back. There are around 20,000 or even more, because these Ukrainian children are being mobilized into the Russian armed forces. They are brainwashing kidnapped Ukrainian children as future soldiers to fight against “Ukrainian Nazis,” as they say. This is a double crime. It is human trafficking, and it is a double crime to use abducted Ukrainian children as future soldiers. And if you analyze the number of Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories, it is more than one million. Can you imagine if Russia mobilizes all Ukrainian children? So is Russia preparing for a ceasefire? Does Putin or the Kremlin really want to end the war? No.

This is why we all need to convince our partners that Ukraine’s victory is in the interest of all of us. This is the only way to deter and prevent the axis of evil. Instead of putting pressure on Ukraine to accept capitulation, because all these ideas that Crimea should be recognized as Russian and that Ukraine should forget about NATO membership are about capitulation, we have to seize this opportunity created by vulnerabilities inside Russia and its economic problems.

We need to make Russia’s defeat faster and not allow Russia to trap our strategic partners, like the United States, with this ceasefire, when Putin and Russian imperialists just want to buy time to rearm, regroup, and redirect their forces. They will do this together with China, Iran, North Korea, and within these eleven years, the de-sovereignization of Belarus has already happened. Within the last three years, I visited Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan three times. It is very clear that there is an interconnection between the European theater and the Indo-Pacific. The geopolitical importance of Ukraine defeating Russian imperialism, so that Russia never again attacks Ukraine and other sovereign states, should be guaranteed by Ukraine’s victory. Not by a ceasefire or some peace settlement. Only by Russian defeat. It did not happen after World War II with Stalinism. Now it has to happen. This is our moral duty, and I believe it will happen.

Ukraine is known around the world as the breadbasket of Europe, and by the way, Russia also wanted to weaponize food and hunger. But Ukraine is the spiritual basket of the world. We inspire people, and we are simply obliged to win together.

Hello guys,

This week, several of our videos pointed to the same broader pattern: Russia is not just facing problems on the battlefield. It is facing a mounting crisis of confidence, resources, and control. Former Soviet neighbors are treating Moscow with less fear, Ukraine is reaching deeper into Russian military and energy infrastructure, and inside Russia itself more people are openly naming the system’s weakness.

What stands out most is that these processes are happening at the same time. Putin is losing influence abroad while frustration grows at home. Russian oil income is under heavier pressure. The banking fears that many tried to ignore are becoming harder to dismiss. And even voices that once helped maintain loyalty to the regime are now speaking more sharply against it. Together, these stories show a system that still tries to look intimidating, but is finding it harder to manage reality.

AZERBAIJAN’S TURN TOWARD UKRAINE IS A DIPLOMATIC BLOW TO MOSCOW

One of the most politically meaningful developments this week was President Zelensky’s visit to Azerbaijan. This matters not only because agreements were signed, including in areas connected to defense cooperation, but because of what the visit symbolizes. Azerbaijan is still formally part of the CIS, a structure born out of the Soviet collapse, and Moscow long treated that whole space as territory where its dominance should remain unquestioned.

That is why this meeting matters so much. It shows that Putin is losing not only military and economic leverage, but also the deference he once expected from former Soviet republics. Leaders in the region can see that Russia no longer looks unstoppable, and that Ukraine’s resilience has changed the strategic mood far beyond our own front line.

Watch more:

SOME OF RUSSIA’S OWN COMMENTATORS ARE NOW TALKING ABOUT FIGHTING “PUTINISM”

Another important shift this week came from inside Russia’s own information space. Influential bloggers and public voices who once supported or tolerated the system are becoming more openly hostile to Putin, with some now using the phrase “fight Putinism.” That is a serious change. Criticism is no longer limited to anonymous frustration or distant opposition. It is moving into circles that once helped reinforce the regime’s image.

The reasons are revealing. Internet shutdowns, the Telegram ban, worsening insecurity, and the daily impact of economic decline are now touching the lives of people who used to remain passive. Once the inconvenience became personal, more of them stopped defending the system and started naming the man at the top as the problem.

Watch more:

TUAPSE HAS BECOME A WINDOW INTO RUSSIA’S VULNERABILITY

The continued strikes on Tuapse were another major story this week. After repeated Ukrainian hits on the oil terminal and refinery there, the damage is no longer something the Kremlin can easily blur or minimize. What makes Tuapse especially important is not just the scale of destruction, but the public reaction inside Russia. More and more people are openly saying that the state failed, that nobody is protecting them, and that they did not realize how weak Russia had become.

That kind of reaction matters. A successful strike on energy infrastructure does more than reduce revenue and disrupt logistics. It also forces ordinary Russians to confront the fact that their state cannot reliably defend strategic sites or even respond honestly when things go wrong. Tuapse is turning into one of the clearest symbols of that loss of confidence.

Watch more:

BANKING FEARS ARE TURNING INTO A MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM

This week also brought one of the clearest financial warning signs yet. A public statement from the head of Russia’s central bank suggested that people’s savings and deposits are effectively the remaining source for propping up the economy. That matters enormously, because it confirms what many Russians already suspected: the state is moving closer to private money as a last reservoir.

This is not just a technical financial issue. It goes to the heart of public trust. Russians have already been reacting to restrictions, closures, inflation, and uncertainty by trying to move or withdraw what they can. Once people believe the state may reach directly into their savings, the atmosphere changes. Fear becomes immediate, practical, and personal.

Watch more:

UKRAINIAN DRONE STRIKES ARE PUSHING RUSSIA’S OIL SECTOR INTO A WORSE MONTH

Another essential theme this week was the damage being done to Russia’s oil refining sector. April was described as one of the harshest months yet, with multiple major refineries stopping operations after Ukrainian drone strikes, alongside disruptions to pipelines and export infrastructure. This matters because oil is not just another sector for Russia. It is one of the core financial pillars of the war.

The significance goes beyond one month’s statistics. Ukraine is steadily showing that it can hit the system that converts Russian natural resources into military funding. And because these are repeated, targeted disruptions rather than isolated incidents, they are beginning to produce a compounding effect: less refining, less export capacity, less money, and more visible pressure on the budget that keeps the war going.

Watch more:

UKRAINE IS HITTING RUSSIAN AIR POWER FAR FROM THE FRONT

Finally, this week highlighted another major military development: Ukrainian drones struck Russian aviation assets while they were still on their bases, including fighter jets deep inside Russian territory and combat helicopters undergoing servicing. What makes this so important is not only the destruction itself, but the distance involved. These are not marginal zones. These are areas Moscow long treated as protected depth.

That changes the picture in several ways. First, it weakens specific Russian capabilities before they can be used against Ukraine. Second, it further destroys the myth that Russia’s geography guarantees safety. And third, it shows why Ukrainian drone warfare is becoming so relevant far beyond this war. If relatively inexpensive systems can reach and destroy such high value targets at this depth, then every military planner in Europe should be paying attention.

Watch more:

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Taken together, these six stories show a Russia that looks less and less like a stable power and more and more like an exhausted fake empire held together by fear, inertia, and habit. It is losing influence abroad, struggling to protect its own strategic sites, running short of money, and watching more people inside the country question the system openly. And that is exactly how such structures usually begin to fail: not all at once, but through a growing pile of contradictions that can no longer be hidden or managed.

That is why I believe this collapse may come sooner than many still expect. Big artificial empires often look frighteningly solid right until the moment they suddenly do not. They seem huge, eternal, untouchable — and then reality catches up with them very fast. Russia is already showing many of those signs. And Ukraine, by resisting, by innovating, and by destroying the machinery of this war, is speeding up the moment when this fake imperial construction can no longer hold itself together.

For those who would like to watch the full conversation, the video is available here:

Buryat culture and history, and what makes Buryat identity distinct

Anna Danylchuk: Could you please introduce the Buryat people? I believe their story is one of the clearest proofs that the Russian Federation is not simply Russia, and that this enormously large territory suppresses many beautiful nations. Could you tell us a little more about the Buryat people, your culture, and your history?

Radjana Dugar-DePonte: Buryats, or Buryat Mongols, are people who speak a Mongolian language, or one of the Mongolian languages, and live in eastern Siberia, in the south. We have a border with Mongolia, and the republic I am from is called Buryatia, the Republic of Buryatia, which is now part of the so-called Russian Federation. But ethnic Buryatia is much larger than the republic. Buryats also live on the western shore of Baikal, in Irkutsk region, and to the east of the republic, in Zabaykalsky Krai. There is also a Buryat population in Mongolia and China, and right now there is a growing global Buryat diaspora. I think the largest part of this diaspora is now in the United States, and it is composed of people who, in the first wave, I would say, fled Buryatia because they were looking for a better life. But a large part of this diaspora now are people who fled Russia after the start of this new wave of full-scale aggression of Russia against Ukraine in February 2022, and also after the so-called partial mobilization was announced. It hit mostly non-Russians, such as Buryats, Sakha-Yakuts, Tuvans, and people from Dagestan, which is in the northern Caucasus, and so on. Now our people, those who actually fled Russia because they did not want to take part in this unjust war, are threatened because of ICE raids. Many people were detained, they are waiting for trials, and some people have already even been deported. So this tragic history of my people is actually repeating again, already in this new century.

My land was, I would say, a cradle of nomadic civilizations since times immemorial. The origin of nomadic husbandry was introduced thousands of years ago by the Scythian tribes and peoples. Then there were ancient Turks who lived in the territory. There were the Huns, the ancient Turks. There were people speaking Sogdian languages, as well as Tungusic, Manchurian, and, of course, Mongolian languages. So I would say that the blood of all these tribes and all these peoples, the ancestors who lived in my land, is still in my veins. It flows in my veins. And we, Buryats, are now trying to restore the ties with this nomadic world, with the Mongols, that were severed by the Soviet regime. They tried to sever these ties, but of course it is impossible to do so. And now we are longing to reestablish these ties and become part of this huge world.

What is the Free Nations League, and which nations of the Russian Federation are now involved?

Anna Danylchuk: Could you tell us a little more about the Free Nations League, your role in it, and how this institution can help nations become free?

Radjana Dugar-DePonte: The Free Nations League was formed in 2022, soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Several organizations, national liberation organizations and regional liberation organizations, announced their plans to form an alliance, an organization that would help our peoples gain sovereignty and independence from this bloody empire. Since then, our ranks have grown significantly. Now there are representatives of the Buryat people, the Tatar, Bashkort, Sakha-Yakut, Circassian, Chechen, Erzya, and Moksha peoples, as well as regional movements such as Ingria, which is the territory of St. Petersburg and the adjacent area, and the Baltic Republican Party. So we are open not only to national liberation movements, but also to those regions that seek independence from Russia.

Our goal is to make sure that the dissolution of Russia is peaceful and controlled, so that we help avoid chaos, civil war, and all the bloodshed that many people are afraid of if this empire finally collapses. So we are saying: no, we are making this future right now. We are making our peaceful coexistence right now by having this alliance and by negotiating right now with each other and with other actors in this political field. So that when the time comes, there is a plan, there is a roadmap to creating independent democratic states on the territory of northern Eurasia.

From a Buryat perspective, why should Russia still be seen as an empire rather than a federation?

Anna Danylchuk: Unfortunately, many people around the world still do not see Russia as an empire. Nations that were once suppressed by the Kremlin clearly understand that it is an empire, and there is a lot of evidence for this. Do you agree with this understanding of Russia as an empire? And could you give us some examples of linguistic or cultural rights being suppressed in Buryatia as part of the Russian Federation?

Radjana Dugar-DePonte: Well, I believe that Russia is, of course, an empire, and it has never ceased to be an empire because its core is imperial. Since the very beginning of the growth of this country, which was first called Muscovy, the main engine behind that growth was the desire to seize as much land as possible and to seize as much wealth as possible.

Russia, or Moscow at first, started its expansion by invading the Kazan Khanate, which is now mostly Tatarstan. Then it also ended the democratic development of the Novgorod Republic, because Novgorod was the main merchant power that sold furs to Western Europe. The Muscovites wanted this wealth for themselves. After they crushed Kazan, they had an open road to Siberia, which was the main land where the most valuable furs were hunted: sable, foxes, and so on. At that time, in the 16th and 17th centuries, sable fur was actually the equivalent of Siberian oil and gas today.

Since the very beginning, the country did not want to develop its economy, science, culture, or anything else. They just needed money from selling these raw materials to the West, and then they received gold and other luxurious goods from them. That’s it. And it did not really end. The country has been reproducing the practices of the 17th century all the time. Right now, we have almost the same structure: the oligarchs, and the tsar. Putin is a tsar, right? He appoints those people who rule the regions, just as the tsars did. There is no democracy. Right now, they do not even call themselves a democracy anymore. At the beginning of the 2000s, it was called “sovereign democracy.” Now they are completely cutting their ties with Western democratic countries. They have allies like North Korea and Iran.

I mean, finally, I think Russia is taking off the mask of a civilized country and showing its imperial, despotic nature to the world. And I think that is a good thing. It is actually a good thing, because now people in the West and in democratic countries can finally see Russia as it is. For a long time, Russia created the image of a homogeneous country populated by white Russians. And if you ask any foreigner what Russia is, they would say, “Oh, it is like balalaika, vodka, bears, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tchaikovsky,” and so on. Many people do not even know that Russia is not homogeneous, that there are many peoples who were colonized throughout its history and oppressed throughout its history. Some of them were able to break free, like the Poles, Ukrainians, the peoples of the Baltic states, and Central Asia. But many peoples are still oppressed and still colonized. The narrative of the Russian Empire, and later the Soviet Union, was that they were not an empire. They would say that all these peoples joined Russia peacefully and of their own accord, that they wanted to become part of Russia. That is one lie.

I think that Moscow, in this regard, is a very sly fox, because especially in Soviet times, they would support anti-colonial movements elsewhere. They would support anti-colonial movements in Africa and Asia. They would pose as this progressive force that helps people gain independence. But for the same ideas, people were oppressed and even executed in Russia and the Soviet Union. I myself first learned about postcolonial studies in 2006, when I was in Poland. I had a scholarship at Warsaw University, and we were studying postcolonial studies for the first time. I actually belonged to academia, and I had no idea that such a science, such a field of studies, even existed, because in Russia it was not even discussed in academia. We did not discuss it. We did not have any opportunities to learn about it. And suddenly, now, of course, it is changing. I think the catalyst was this aggression against Ukraine, because people started to realize, maybe some of them for the first time, that we were actually part of this empire, that we were colonized, and that there is actually a way out.

As for the Buryats and our culture and language, I guess if you want to understand what happened to my people, the best way would be to compare the situation of Buryatia and Buryats with Mongolia. Mongolia, of course, had a short period when it was under Soviet influence, but still, it is an independent country, and now it is called an oasis of democracy in the region. Mongolian culture is thriving. Of course, the Mongolian language is not threatened, and there are many people who come to Mongolia from abroad, see how unique the culture is, and are enchanted by it. I think that Buryat culture and my nation were mutilated by colonization, because many people have lost their native tongue. The Buryat language was included in the Red Book of Endangered Languages, a list compiled by UNESCO.

Right now, the Russian state is doing something that looks like an attempt to eradicate the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation, because they have adopted many laws. First of all, the teaching of native languages is now not banned exactly, but it has become non-obligatory, non-mandatory. It is something you would choose like a club, like a language club. At the same time, the same Russian state is very concerned about the situation with the Russian language in the Baltic states and in Ukraine. Russian is still taught in schools there, but they say that this is an oppressive language policy. And not many people know about the situation with the Buryat language, or with the languages of the peoples of the Caucasus, or the Bashkort language, and so on. Russia was able to push us into the background, while presenting great Russian culture, great Russian literature, great Russian ballet, and everything else. That is why people do not really know about us. And if you do not know about something, you do not know about its problems.

The Russian Federation has repeatedly failed at democracy. Could its nations do better if the federation collapses?

Anna Danylchuk: It is still very popular to speak about rebooting relations between Russia and the United States, or Russia and the European Union, even after the tragedies committed by the Kremlin. Maybe we should stop giving chances to the Russian Federation and the Kremlin, because we cannot name a period in Russian history when Russia was truly democratic. Maybe we should instead give a chance to the nations now imprisoned in this Russian project, because they may be able to build better democratic societies?

Radjana Dugar-DePonte: Well, yes, as a historian, I saw a lot of chances that Russia had throughout history. I would say beginning with the First World War, when there was a chance that Russia would democratize if a democratic government had been formed. But at the same time, I understand now that even then it was not possible. The coming of the Bolsheviks was inevitable. And even if there had been a bourgeois state, since you are an empire, you cannot be truly democratic. That is why, at the end of the First World War, almost all of these European empires dissolved. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire also dissolved. And after the Second World War, the remaining imperial powers also dissolved, like the British Empire. It shows that if a country is truly democratic, it cannot keep by force people who do not want to be part of it. The sign of a democratic government, the sign of a democratic state, is that it allows people to express their desire for self-determination. This is one of the key principles of democracy, and it is also part of the United Nations foundation: the recognition of the right of nations to self-determination.

After the February Revolution in 1917, if Russia had become a democratic country, the only prerequisite for that would have been the dissolution of the Russian Empire. It had already started to dissolve because Poland and Finland became independent. Then there was this period when all other nations started seeking independence, because the independent Buryat state was announced in 1918, and in many other regions there were similar independence movements and even governments that proclaimed independence. But then, of course, after the coming of the Bolsheviks and the repainting of the empire in red, it became a different kind of empire, with communist ideology, but it was still an empire. Finally, in 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved, it was also a happy time for those republics that became independent. It was a chance for Ukraine and for the countries of Central Asia to become independent. But Russia was able to maintain all the republics that were still part of Russia. Everybody saw what happened to Ichkeria. Once Ichkeria, Chechnya, declared independence, the country was invaded by Russians. I think there were two genocidal wars there. And right now there is a puppet put there by the Kremlin, who is the head of the Chechen Republic, Kadyrov. So when all the other republics saw this example, of course they thought twice about following these steps. And this is why Russia cannot be reformed. It is an empire. If it wants to be reformed, then it should let all the peoples who do not want to be part of this country anymore go free. Yes, this is the last chance for Russia to become independent, and it would happen if all those regions and nations that do not want to be part of it anymore finally go free. As for giving a chance to these new democratic states, I think we deserve this chance. A lot of people say that there would be chaos, that despotic states would arise instead of Russia. But Russia is a huge despotism right now. And after the Soviet Union dissolved, there were several examples of successful states that were able to appear, like the Baltic states, Ukraine, and Moldova right now. They have democratic elections. They have a democratically elected president and so on.

There are also countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. There are some problems with democracy there, but they are far, far lesser than those that Russia has. Russians and Russian politicians, even those politicians who belong to the Russian opposition, have no right to blame those countries and say that if Russia dissolves, all these countries will become these hate states that fight with each other. Because in this huge space, Russia is actually the one that brings discord among those nations. As soon as Russia is removed from this scheme, normal peaceful negotiations can happen, as we recently saw in negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Buryatia has the great example of Mongolia, which is a normal democratic state. As I said before, it is now called an oasis of democracy. One important thing is that Buryats were actually responsible for the formation of the modern Mongolian state. There was this generation of Buryat intellectuals at the beginning of the 20th century that helped the young Mongolian state appear and form new modern institutions. There were people like Jamsano and other intellectuals who tried to establish an independent Buryat state, but they were able to establish Buryat autonomy within Russia. These people also helped the young Mongolian state appear and grow. That is why, because we made it happen once, I think there is a good chance that Buryats can make it again. We can make it again and we can make it happen. It is like we know what democracy is, or we have it in our veins, in our history. Buryats had what was called military democracy centuries ago, and then we were able to develop democratic institutions in our traditional society.

We had this experience of democratic life even when we were part of the Russian Empire. We had democratic institutions like steppe dumas, and we had self-governance there. In Russia, I mean in European Russia, they were in a worse situation because the majority of peasants were actually slaves. We never had slavery, and we know what democracy is and how it works. So again, those Russian opposition leaders have no right to call us wild or use other epithets, because we know what democracy is, and they do not. They never had it.

Russia disproportionately conscripts ethnic minorities. Is this a deliberate imperial strategy?

Anna Danylchuk: Now perhaps we should touch on a difficult subject: the full-scale war. Putin seems afraid of open conscription, so he tries to conscript people from what Russia describes as ethnically diverse regions. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe considers this process to be aimed at eliminating national and ethnic diversity within the Russian Federation and, to some extent, weakening national movements. Do you observe such attempts? And do you think this is another terrible side of this war: the attempt to weaken or destroy these so-called ethnically diverse regions, which are actually separate nations?

Radjana Dugar-DePonte: Putin and the Kremlin are threatened by growing national liberation movements, by the desire of colonized nations to have self-determination and independence, and also by Russia’s own demography. According to official data, the population of Russia is 140 million people. But more objective sources show that this figure is actually too high. In reality, the population is not more than 130 million, or perhaps even less than that, maybe 110 million. This is the worst situation for the Russian people right now, because all sociological and demographic studies show that the Russian population is shrinking. It is shrinking in the western part of Russia and also in the east.

The Far East and Siberia are losing their Russian population, because in recent years many people have been moving to larger cities in the west, like Moscow. Even the oblasts and regions that surround Moscow, the core Russian regions, are losing people. There are ghost villages and ghost towns all over the country. At the same time, the Indigenous population, the peoples of Siberia such as Buryats, were showing slow growth, because after all those waves of genocide in the 20th century, our population did not grow, but shrank. There was a period in history after the repressions, the civil war, and Stalin’s purges in the 1930s, when by 1939 our population had actually diminished instead of growing. After that, we were showing steady growth. So if we see this through Putin’s eyes, the Russian population is steadily shrinking, while the population of the ethnic regions is growing. Of course, they are threatened by this. They are also threatened by the number of labor migrants from Central Asia in Moscow, and they see it as a threat.

One way to deal with it is to diminish the population of those growing nations. First of all, they invaded Ukraine, and they are waging this genocidal war against the Ukrainian people. But at the same time, they are waging another genocide against the ethnic, non-Russian population of Russia. That is why I would say that Putin believes in democracy the way Hitler did.

Has Russia’s failure in Ukraine already begun dismantling its imperial system, and which new states could emerge next?

Anna Danylchuk: After Putin’s blitzkrieg failed, a lot changed in how political leaders and nations see Russia. We keep exposing Russia’s weaknesses, and what helps us survive dark periods is the feeling that the dissolution of the Russian imperial project is inevitable, and that Putin himself triggered it. Do you think Russia’s failure in Ukraine, this exhausting war, and its inability to protect oil refineries, airspace, and even borders are already leading to the dissolution of its imperial project? And if so, which nations, new countries, or regions may be ready to shape this future territory?

Radjana Dugar-DePonte: Actually, soon after February 22nd, 2024, maybe the next day or even the same day when it happened, I had this realization in my mind that this is the end. This is the beginning of the end of the Russian Empire. And I actually wrote a post on Facebook about it, saying that this is the end. It is like when Putin started this full-scale aggression, he signed his own execution order, and soon this bloody Russian Empire would finally collapse, and new democratic states would rise in its place. So my views have not changed since then. Actually, this idea has grown and matured, and I think that since he was so delusional when he decided that it would be possible for him to invade and defeat Ukraine in three days, it shows, of course, the weakness of the regime, which is held together only by one strongman.

From the very beginning of his rise to power, Putin was building the so-called vertical of power. But a vertical is a very unstable figure. It is something that is not based on anything, not based on solid ground. It is just something that can easily fall. And this is what is happening right now. Right now, this system is very volatile. It depends on the life of one man, and as soon as something happens, it will collapse. So our objective, as representatives of our peoples, is not to lose this opportunity. When this window of opportunity opens, we need to be ready. That is why I joined the Free Nations League, because I see this organization as something like the European Union. We have this idea that we need to build something like the European Union in this huge territory, and we are working to attain this goal.

I anticipate a new democratic Ichkeria, a new democratic Sakha, and maybe a coalition of North Caucasian states. I see a very strong and very democratic Tatarstan, democratic Bashkortostan, free Ingria, free Königsberg, free Buryatia or Kalmykia, the Republic of Moksha, the Republic of Erzya, Sakha, and all these regions. I think we just need to work harder so that we can have this glorious democratic future for our nations.

From budget stress and political panic to regional unrest, public disillusionment, and Ukrainian strikes reaching ever deeper, more and more signs point to a system under pressure.

Hello guys,

This week, several of our videos circled around one connected theme: Russia is becoming more strained in too many places at once. The Kremlin is still trying to project control, but the signals coming from inside the country are getting darker and more chaotic. Business leaders are speaking more openly, deputies are sounding alarmed, regional identities are pushing back, and even figures from Russia’s own entertainment and influencer world are suddenly touching nerves that the system can no longer hide. At the same time, Ukraine keeps doing what changes the reality most: weakening the military and economic foundation of Russia’s war.

What stands out especially is that these are no longer isolated episodes. Economic pain, censorship, internal distrust, and fear of the future are now feeding each other. And when that happens in an authoritarian system, even small cracks can start to matter much more than before.

BUSINESS ELITES AND YOUNGER RUSSIANS ARE LOSING FAITH IN THE FUTURE

One of the most telling stories this week came after a major chemical plant was hit by Ukrainian drones. Its director did not simply complain about the attack. Instead, he spoke in broader terms about Russia’s degradation and the country’s growing dysfunction. That matters because this kind of language is coming not from opposition circles, but from someone embedded in Russia’s industrial world. It suggests that among business figures, frustration is becoming harder to suppress.

The same video also showed how bleak the mood has become among younger Russians. Many no longer sound merely disappointed. They sound unsure that Russia even has a stable future. Internet shutdowns, shrinking opportunities, closures, restrictions, and the general sense of decline are creating a much darker atmosphere than the Kremlin wants to admit. And when youth and business become simultaneously pessimistic, that is a dangerous combination for any regime built on passivity and fear.

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THE KREMLIN IS DRAINING ITS RESERVES WHILE THE FINANCIAL GAP WIDENS

Another major warning sign this week was financial. Russia has reportedly already sold 22 tons of gold from its physical reserves, while the federal budget deficit has reached 4.6 trillion rubles in just the first quarter. That is not an adjustment. That is a serious signal that the state is burning through what it still has while searching for ways to cover the costs of war and internal instability.

This becomes even more important when we remember that Moscow hoped to benefit from temporary opportunities in the oil market. Yet Ukraine keeps striking the infrastructure Russia needs in order to turn oil into money. So even when outside conditions briefly look favorable, the Kremlin still faces a more basic problem: the machinery that funds the war is under attack, and reserves are not endless.

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A NON POLITICAL INFLUENCER JUST EXPOSED HOW NERVOUS THE SYSTEM HAS BECOME

This week also gave us one of the more unusual but very revealing stories. A beauty and lifestyle influencer, Victoria Bonya, posted complaints about internet shutdowns and emergency failures, and the reaction was extraordinary. Kremlin figures, propagandists, and major political actors all felt compelled to respond. That matters not because she is a political leader, but because she is not one. The fact that someone from a totally different sphere could provoke such a reaction tells us a lot about the current mood inside Russia.

The deeper issue is that the system is already tense enough that even an everyday influencer can become a trigger. When ordinary frustrations over connectivity, safety, and collapsing normal life suddenly become politically explosive, it means the authorities know public patience is thin. The overreaction itself is part of the story.

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EVEN THE DUMA IS STARTING TO SOUND ALARMED

Another sign of growing instability came from Russia’s own political sphere. We looked at warnings from prominent figures in the Duma, including talk about the danger of a new upheaval. What matters here is that concern is now being voiced from within the political system itself. Deputies increasingly understand that if the situation worsens, they may not be able to distance themselves from the consequences of Putin’s failures.

This tension is intensified by the contrast between what Russians see and what Putin says. While oil facilities burn, prices rise, internet access is restricted, and insecurity spreads, the Kremlin keeps offering slogans, vague historical comparisons, and empty gestures. That gap between reality and rhetoric is politically corrosive. And once insiders start acknowledging it, the illusion of control weakens faster.

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TATARSTAN IS PUSHING BACK AGAINST MOSCOW’S CULTURAL CONTROL

A very important story this week came from Tatarstan, where a dispute over the use of Russian instead of Tatar in an official cultural setting revealed something much bigger. This was not just about wording or translation. It was about respect, hierarchy, and the long history of Moscow suppressing local language and identity in non Russian republics.

What makes this especially important now is timing. Under conditions of weakness at the center, questions that once might have been muted are surfacing more openly. Tatarstan’s deputies were not merely defending a language. They were signaling that the old model, where Moscow dictates and the regions absorb, is under strain. And that matters for understanding just how fragile Russia’s internal unity may become if the Kremlin keeps weakening.

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PUTIN DISAPPEARS WHEN THE QUESTIONS BECOME TOO DIFFICULT

We also looked this week at a familiar but increasingly revealing pattern: when major problems pile up, Putin disappears. This time, that disappearance came as a major Russian oil terminal continued burning and public questions grew louder. For many Russians, this silence no longer looks strategic. It looks like avoidance, and even cowardice.

That matters because authoritarian rulers depend heavily on image. Putin’s mythology was built around decisiveness, discipline, and the idea of a “strong hand.” But when a ruler vanishes during moments of visible failure, that image starts working against him. Russians may not all become brave or humane because of it, but many can still recognize weakness when they see it.

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UKRAINIAN DRONES ARE NOW REACHING THE URALS

Finally, this week brought a major military and symbolic shift. Ukrainian drones reached targets around Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk, pushing beyond the European part of Russia and into territory long treated as naturally protected by distance and geography. That is a serious development. For decades, the Urals were seen as a safe rear zone where strategic industry and military infrastructure could be sheltered from war. That assumption is now being broken.

This is not only about range. It is about the collapse of a military myth. Russia’s size and depth were supposed to guarantee security. But in a 21st century war, with the kind of innovation Ukraine has developed, those old calculations no longer hold. And the political effect matters too: Russians are now being forced to understand that the war is no longer contained to a few border zones or distant headlines. It is reaching deeper, farther, and into places that once felt untouchable.

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CLOSING THOUGHTS

These seven stories show a Russia where pressure is accumulating across many layers at once. Economic strain is visible. Political nerves are obvious. Regional identity is sharpening. Public frustration is growing more expressive. And even the old assumptions about safety and distance are being broken by Ukrainian capability. This does not mean one single dramatic turning point arrives tomorrow. But it does mean the system looks less coherent, less confident, and less stable than it wants the world to believe.

And that is why Ukraine’s role in this story remains so important. We are not just resisting. We are forcing reality to surface inside a system built on propaganda, repression, and inertia. Every strike on the war machine, every exposure of weakness, and every moment when the Kremlin can no longer hide what is happening brings that reality closer to the surface. And once too many people inside Russia begin to see it clearly, even fear may no longer be enough to hold everything together.

Hello guys,

This week, several of our videos pointed to the same broader reality: Russia is becoming more fragile, more exposed, and more dangerous at the same time. Ukraine keeps striking the infrastructure that feeds the Russian war machine, while inside Russia fear, inequality, and dysfunction are becoming more visible even to people who tried not to notice them before. At the same time, the Kremlin is still trying to project strength abroad, even as it protects Putin’s residences better than its own regions and strategic facilities. And that contrast tells us a lot.

We also saw something else very clearly this week: Ukraine is not simply surviving. Ukraine is adapting, innovating, and becoming stronger in ways that many did not expect back in 2022. That matters not only for our own defense, but for the future security of Europe and the wider democratic world.

PUTIN IS PROTECTING HIMSELF WHILE RUSSIA IS LEFT EXPOSED

One of the most revealing stories this week was about Putin’s priorities. New reporting showed more air defense systems being added around his Valdai residence, even as Russian regions closer to the war and strategically important infrastructure continue complaining that they do not have enough protection. That contrast is hard to miss. While oil terminals, border regions, and ordinary Russians remain vulnerable, more and more state resources are being used to shield Putin, his family, and his luxury compounds.

This matters not only because it exposes corruption or privilege, but because it reveals fear. A system that keeps telling its people everything is under control is quietly building ever thicker layers of defense around one man. And the more Russians compare that reality with their own blackouts, insecurity, financial pressure, and lack of protection, the more betrayal they are likely to feel.

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HUNGARY’S ELECTION WAS A MAJOR LOSS FOR THE KREMLIN

This week also brought a very important geopolitical shift. Viktor Orbán’s fall from power matters not because Hungary will suddenly agree with Ukraine on everything, but because Moscow has lost one of its most useful political instruments inside the EU and NATO. For years, Orbán and his circle helped spread narratives convenient for the Kremlin, blocked support for Ukraine, and weakened European unity at exactly the moments when solidarity mattered most.

That is why this result matters far beyond Hungary itself. It shows that even after years of disinformation, pressure, and outside interference, societies can reject leaders who build their politics around resentment, manipulation, and service to Moscow. For Russia, this is not just an electoral disappointment. It is the loss of one of its most valuable voices inside Europe.

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EVEN CHINESE WORKERS ARE PROTESTING INSIDE RUSSIA

Another striking story this week came from the Russian Far East, where hundreds of Chinese workers reportedly protested after Rosneft stopped paying them. In one sense, this sounds almost surreal. But in another, it captures today’s Russia very well in a single headline. It points to labor shortages caused by war, dependence on China, financial trouble inside once powerful energy giants, and growing unrest over unpaid wages.

What makes this especially important is that Russia’s internal strain is no longer affecting only Russians. It is now becoming visible even among the foreign workers its system depends on. And when unpaid salaries, economic decline, and declining state capacity begin to spill over in this way, it becomes much harder for the Kremlin to pretend that everything remains stable and manageable.

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UKRAINE IS BECOMING ONE OF THE KEY MILITARY INNOVATORS OF THIS WAR

This week also gave us one of the most important reminders of how much Ukraine has changed since 2022. President Zelensky presented 56 types of weapons now produced in Ukraine, all developed during the full scale war, under shelling, blackouts, and enormous pressure. That alone says a lot. Ukraine is no longer merely asking how to survive. Ukraine is actively shaping what modern warfare looks like.

What matters here is not only the number of systems, but what stands behind them: battlefield experience, rapid innovation, horizontal cooperation between producers and soldiers, and a military culture shaped by urgency, creativity, and respect for human life. More and more countries now want to learn from that experience. And that growing interest in Ukrainian miltech is itself another sign that Putin failed in one of his main goals. Instead of weakening Ukraine into submission, he helped turn it into one of the strongest and most inventive military forces in Europe.

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UKRAINE IS METHODICALLY DESTROYING THE INFRASTRUCTURE RUSSIA USES FOR WAR

We also saw another night of major Ukrainian strikes against Russia’s military potential. This included damage to an important Black Sea oil export terminal and successful hits on 16 military targets in occupied Crimea, among them air defense systems, missile arsenals, oil depots, and drone production facilities. These are not random attacks. They are part of a deliberate effort to strip Russia of the infrastructure it uses to attack Ukraine.

That difference matters deeply. While Russia continues to target apartment buildings and civilians, Ukraine keeps focusing on the machinery of war itself. Every destroyed missile arsenal, drone site, or depot means fewer resources available for future attacks and more lives saved. This is not only effective militarily. It also shows the moral contrast between a country defending itself and an aggressor that still relies on terror.

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THE THREAT OF A RUSSIAN TEST AGAINST NATO CAN NO LONGER BE TREATED LIGHTLY

Finally, this week we returned to a difficult but necessary topic: the possibility that Russia could try to test NATO’s resolve somewhere vulnerable, especially in the Baltic region. The point is not that such an attack is guaranteed. The point is that Russian legal changes, aggressive rhetoric, and the current geopolitical mood make this risk harder to dismiss than many would like. Places like Narva or islands in the Baltic are being discussed precisely because they could be seen by the Kremlin as opportunities for pressure, intimidation, or a dangerous experiment.

And the key lesson here is very clear. If Russia ever attempts such a test, the response cannot be symbolic. It cannot be limited to concern or statements. That is exactly the kind of hesitation Putin hopes to exploit. This is why Ukraine’s experience matters so much. We know from the hardest possible experience that evil does not stop when it sees weakness. It pushes further.

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CLOSING THOUGHTS

Taken together, these stories show us a Russia that is weaker, more uneven, and more unstable than it tries to appear. It is losing useful allies abroad. It is struggling to keep order and payment discipline at home. It is protecting Putin more carefully than its own people or strategic infrastructure. And it is still failing to stop Ukraine from growing stronger, more precise, and more capable with every year of this war.

At the same time, weakness does not automatically make the Kremlin less dangerous. Quite often, it can make it more reckless. That is why clarity matters so much right now. Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s war machine, Europe’s ability to resist Moscow’s influence, and the willingness of democratic countries to prepare seriously for future threats are all part of the same larger struggle. And that struggle is still about something very basic: whether fear and violence set the rules, or whether truth, solidarity, and strength prevail.

Hello guys,

This week, our videos once again formed one bigger picture. Ukraine keeps striking deeper into the infrastructure that feeds Russia’s war machine, while inside Russia the consequences are becoming harder and harder to hide. Internet shutdowns are no longer just censorship. They now affect banking, business, transport, and daily life. Regional governors are speaking out. Ordinary Russians are withdrawing cash. Pro Kremlin figures are turning against one another and the Kremlin itself is increasingly busy looking for scapegoats instead of solutions.

UKRAINE IS DISMANTLING RUSSIA’S AIR DEFENSE AND STRIKING THE WAR ECONOMY

One of the clearest themes this week was the growing effectiveness of Ukrainian strikes against Russia’s military and energy infrastructure. We looked at attacks on military sites in and around Moscow, chemical plants, oil facilities, and especially the Baltic export terminals in Primorsk and Ust-Luga. The broader point is that Ukraine is not only destroying air defense systems at a much faster pace than before, but also blocking the Kremlin from turning energy exports into fresh funding for the war.

This matters especially because Russia had hoped to use a more favorable moment in oil sales to compensate for financial losses. But when export terminals and nearby refineries are burning or forced to halt operations, that opportunity becomes far less useful. In other words, Ukraine is not merely reacting to events. It is shaping the battlefield and the economic field at the same time, weakening the machinery that produces missiles, fuels aggression, and finances further destruction.

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NOVOROSSIYSK SHOWS THAT UKRAINE IS NOW TARGETING RUSSIA’S MAIN OIL GATEWAYS

This week also brought another strategically important development: the strike on Novorossiysk, Russia’s largest port and a key hub for both military logistics and oil exports. That matters enormously because this is not a peripheral facility. Novorossiysk handled a huge share of Russia’s trade and was capable of exporting tens of millions of tons of oil every year. By hitting it after earlier strikes on Ust-Luga and Primorsk, Ukraine is building a broader strategy to reduce Russia’s ability to export oil, refill its budget, and keep funding war.

The significance is not only economic – it also exposes how vulnerable Russia’s supposedly protected strategic infrastructure has become. Ordinary Russians, military bloggers, and officials are all increasingly forced to ask the same question: where is Russian air defense, and why does it keep failing when it matters most? The more these strikes accumulate, the clearer it becomes that the Kremlin is losing not only money, but also credibility.

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RUSSIA’S INTERNET BLACKOUTS ARE NOW DAMAGING THE STATE ITSELF

Another central story this week was the sheer scale of Russia’s internet and service failures. We looked at a blackout so serious that it disrupted banks, telecom providers, satellite services, TV companies, transport systems, and even government platforms. This is no longer just about censorship or slowing down one app. The Kremlin’s effort to cut people off from information is now interfering with the country’s own core systems.

That matters because it reveals how self destructive this model has become. Internet shutdowns were supposed to stop bad news from spreading, prevent people from organizing, and help the authorities keep control. Instead, they are damaging the state’s own infrastructure and making life more chaotic for millions of people. A regime that tries to hide the truth by switching off communication is starting to paralyze itself in the process.

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INTERNET SHUTDOWNS ARE TURNING EVEN LOYAL OFFICIALS AGAINST THE KREMLIN

Perhaps the most politically revealing consequence of these blackouts is that they are no longer angering only young people or online businesses. Regional governors are now openly criticizing the Kremlin’s decisions, especially in regions that have effectively become war zones. For them, internet access is not a luxury. It affects air raid alerts, communication, administration, and basic daily functioning. That is why more of them are beginning to speak against a decision that clearly came from the top.

This is especially important in Russia’s political culture, where governors are expected to remain obedient and avoid direct conflict with Moscow. The fact that some now feel compelled to push back tells us how severe the damage has become. Putin may finally have hit the issue that turns even previously passive or loyal Russians into openly political ones. Not because they suddenly discovered moral clarity, but because the state has made normal life harder to sustain.

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PUTIN IS LOOKING FOR SCAPEGOATS AS THE SYSTEM GROWS WEAKER

At the same time, the Kremlin is clearly searching for someone to blame. We looked at reports that Putin wants to replace governors in border regions and in Dagestan, ahead of Russia’s local elections. This follows a familiar pattern: rather than admit that his war has turned Russian territory into an increasingly unstable and dangerous space, Putin is trying to shift blame downward. Failed air defense, evacuations, internet shutdowns, and growing criticism from regional officials are all becoming politically inconvenient.

This same logic appears in the growing pressure around Sergei Shoigu and his circle. As more of his former deputies are prosecuted and removed, it looks less like ordinary anti corruption theater and more like an attempt to assign responsibility for military failure, strategic miscalculation, and the visible consequences of war. The Kremlin needs scapegoats because the number of problems is growing too quickly, and Putin does not want those problems pointing directly back at him.

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CASH PANIC IS ADDING EVEN MORE PRESSURE TO RUSSIA’S BANKING SYSTEM

Finally, we looked at how prolonged internet shutdowns are now feeding a cash panic inside Russia. People and businesses have reportedly been withdrawing huge amounts of money because without stable internet many normal payments and services stop working. This may sound technical at first, but it is actually one of the clearest signs of eroding trust in the system. When people rush to get cash, it usually means they no longer believe the infrastructure around them is reliable.

What makes this so important is that one Kremlin decision is now triggering another crisis. Attempts to hide economic decline and stop communication are undermining trust in banks, accelerating withdrawals, and putting even more pressure on a financial system already strained by war costs, taxes, salary problems, and falling confidence. Instead of stabilizing the country, the Kremlin’s actions are compounding instability across several sectors at once.

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CLOSING THOUGHTS

Taken together, these stories show us a Russia that is becoming more brittle, more frightened, and more internally conflicted. Ukraine is striking the infrastructure that sustains the war, while inside Russia the Kremlin is responding not with confidence, but with censorship, blame shifting, and improvisation. Internet shutdowns are now damaging the economy, the banking system, and even the loyalty of regional elites. Oil terminals are burning. Cash is leaving the banks. And more and more of the system’s contradictions are becoming impossible to hide.

Slava Ukraini.

Hello guys,

And first of all, happy Easter to those who celebrate. These are special days that remind us of something very important: good must prevail. And that is exactly why it is so important to remain on the side of light, truth, and solidarity, especially now, when Ukraine continues resisting evil not only for itself, but for the wider democratic world too.

This week, we saw even more signs that the Kremlin is not solving Russia’s problems but trying to shut them down, hide them, or silence them. Internet restrictions are spreading, Telegram has been banned, shops are closing, protests are becoming better organized, and Ukraine keeps striking deeper into the infrastructure and military assets that help Russia continue this war. What emerges from all these stories is one larger picture: a system under growing pressure, reacting with fear, censorship, and improvisation rather than control. And the more this pressure builds, the more visible the cracks become.

INTERNET SHUTDOWNS ARE NOW TRIGGERING NATIONWIDE PROTESTS

One of the clearest signs of growing tension inside Russia was the attempt to organize protests in dozens of major cities against internet blackouts and restrictions on Telegram. This is especially striking because such protests remain rare in a country that often presents itself as deeply apolitical. Yet now the issue affects almost everyone: young people, pensioners, workers, businesses, and families who rely on the internet for communication, work, purchases, and access to information.

What makes these protests particularly important is that they appear more coordinated and broader than many previous examples of discontent. At the same time, they are developing alongside other everyday pressures such as fuel shortages, salary delays, and rising taxes. That combination matters. It means people are no longer reacting to one isolated grievance, but to an accumulating sense that life is becoming more restricted, more unstable, and harder to manage. And for the Kremlin, that is a much more dangerous kind of dissatisfaction.

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SHOPS ARE CLOSING, AND THE ECONOMIC DECLINE IS NOW VISIBLE ON THE STREET

Another major sign of Russia’s worsening condition came from the retail sector. Thousands of shops have reportedly closed in Moscow and St. Petersburg alone, and the situation is likely even worse in poorer regional cities. This is important because it turns the economic crisis from an abstract discussion into something people can literally see around them in everyday life.

The reasons behind these closures tell us a lot. Falling consumer demand, high food inflation, rising taxes on small businesses, salary problems, and internet shutdowns that disrupt online commerce are all feeding the same downward spiral. When even Russia’s richest cities see this scale of retail decline, it suggests something broader and deeper than temporary turbulence. It shows a system where ordinary people have less money, less confidence, and fewer options — and where the effects of war and economic mismanagement are becoming increasingly impossible to disguise.

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UKRAINE IS STRIKING DEEPER INTO REPUBLICS WITH THEIR OWN HISTORY OF RESISTANCE

This week also brought more news about Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s war economy far from the Ukrainian border, including targets in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. These are not just industrial sites. They are located in republics with their own identities, their own political histories, and long standing tensions with Moscow. That gives these strikes an importance that goes beyond material damage alone.

On the military level, they hurt oil refining and chemical production tied to Russia’s war effort. But politically, they also increase pressure inside regions that may feel less and less willing to share the cost of Putin’s imperial project. When republics with different languages, religions, and memories of earlier autonomy face explosions, air alerts, financial losses, and growing instability, it can deepen the sense that Moscow’s war is not their war. And that makes every such strike strategically significant in more than one way.

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THE KREMLIN HAS MOVED FROM INTERNET SLOWDOWNS TO FULL DIGITAL CENSORSHIP

The official blocking of Telegram marks a major escalation in Russia’s censorship drive. For millions of Russians, Telegram was not just another app. It was one of the main channels for communication, information, business activity, military reporting, and protest coordination. Its blocking shows that the Kremlin is becoming more aggressive in trying to cut people off from one another and from the real scale of the country’s problems.

This step also tells us something deeper about the regime’s state of mind. After months of mobile internet slowdowns and broader blackouts, the Kremlin is now moving toward a much more openly repressive model that includes white lists of approved websites and tools aimed at blocking access even through VPNs. That is not the behavior of a confident government. It is the behavior of a system that fears what people might learn, share, or organize when communication remains open. And that fear is becoming more visible with every new restriction.

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EVEN PRO KREMLIN MILITARY BLOGGERS ARE LOSING THEIR PLACE IN THE SYSTEM

One of the most revealing consequences of the Telegram ban is that it is not only hurting critics or ordinary users. It is also damaging the ecosystem of military bloggers and pro war influencers who for years helped amplify Kremlin narratives, justify the invasion, and rally support for the Russian army. Many of them suddenly lost access to huge audiences, income streams, and one of their main tools for maintaining influence.

This matters because it shows how far the Kremlin’s panic has gone. Out of fear that Telegram was helping spread bad news, expose military failures, and connect discontented Russians across regions, the authorities have begun to dismantle even one of their own propaganda pillars. That creates a new kind of tension inside the regime’s support base. When loyal voices begin to suffer directly from censorship, the system is no longer simply suppressing opposition. It is undermining parts of the network that once helped keep it stable.

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CRIMEA IS BECOMING MORE DANGEROUS FOR RUSSIAN MILITARY AVIATION

Finally, this week brought another reminder that occupied Crimea is far from secure for Russian forces. Russia reportedly lost three military aircraft there in a single week, including an An-26 carrying senior officers and other military personnel. These losses matter not only because of their scale, but because they show that Crimea is no longer functioning as the safe military rear zone Russia once imagined it to be.

There is also a broader military significance here. Every aircraft lost, every senior officer removed, and every failure above occupied Ukrainian territory further weakens Russia’s ability to wage war effectively. Command capacity, aviation strength, and the aura of control all take another hit. Crimea, which the Kremlin tried to turn into a fortress, is instead becoming another place where Russian military assets are steadily degraded. And that has consequences far beyond the peninsula itself.

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CLOSING THOUGHTS

Taken together, these stories show a Russia that is becoming more brittle, more censorious, and more openly strained. The Kremlin is not responding to growing pressure by restoring confidence or solving structural problems. Instead, it is turning off communication, restricting access, silencing platforms, and hoping that fragmentation will prevent organization. But at the same time, economic decline is becoming more visible, regional tension is deepening, and Ukraine continues to hit the infrastructure and military assets that sustain the war.

And perhaps during Easter this contrast feels even sharper. One side chooses repression, lies, and destruction. The other continues to defend life, dignity, truth, and freedom. That is why these days remind us that good must prevail. And that is also why supporting Ukraine, standing together, and staying on the side of light remains so important — for us, for Europe, and for everyone who still believes that evil must be defeated.

Slava Ukraini.

This week, we saw even more signs that the war is not only draining Russia from the outside, but destabilizing it from within. The Kremlin is tightening control over communication, trying to contain economic panic, and struggling to protect the infrastructure that funds its war. At the same time, more and more cracks are becoming visible: people cannot access the internet, cannot get passports, cannot trust the economy, and in some cases can no longer stay silent. What we are watching is not one isolated problem after another, but a broader picture of a system under growing pressure from war, sanctions, economic decline, and its own fear.

EVEN ST. PETERSBURG IS BEING CUT OFF

One of the most revealing developments this week came from St. Petersburg, which joined the growing list of Russian cities facing prolonged internet shutdowns. And this is not just about technical disruption. Authorities are effectively moving toward a model where only approved websites remain accessible — mainly state services, government pages, and propaganda outlets. That tells us a lot about the direction in which the regime is moving.

The consequences are serious and very concrete. People report problems not only with business and communication, but even with basic services and emergency calls. Online entrepreneurs are losing income, ordinary people cannot access the platforms they depend on, and anger is spreading in a city that has always been symbolically important for Putin. The Kremlin may present this as a security measure, but in reality it looks more and more like fear: fear of bad news, fear of unrest, and fear of a population that is harder to control when it remains connected.

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UKRAINE IS STRIKING THE OIL LIFELINE THAT KEEPS THE WAR GOING

This week also brought very important news about Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure. In one video, we looked at attacks on Primorsk, Russia’s biggest oil export hub in the Baltics, and on an oil refinery in Ufa, deep inside Russian territory. These are not just symbolic targets. They are central to the functioning of Russia’s war economy.

What makes this especially important is the timing. At the moment when Moscow hoped to benefit from a more favorable environment for oil sales, Ukraine is physically disrupting the infrastructure needed to export that oil. Terminals are burning, operations are halted, and expectations of easy profits are collapsing. That means fewer resources for missiles, for the military, and for the wider machinery of war. It also reinforces another point we have discussed many times: Russia’s air defense is failing to protect strategically important sites, and that has both military and political consequences inside the country.

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MORE RUSSIANS WANT OUT, AND THE SYSTEM IS MAKING THAT HARDER

Another striking development this week was the growing difficulty Russians face when trying to obtain international passports. In major cities, including Moscow, offices are effectively overwhelmed, and many people cannot get appointments at all. In a country where more and more people seem to want a way out, that matters a great deal.

We also looked at plans to restrict incoming calls from abroad for people over sixty unless they complete additional bureaucratic steps. Officially, this is presented as protection from fraud. In practice, it looks like one more restriction on communication in a country where the state is increasingly afraid of uncontrolled contact with the outside world. Put together, these developments suggest a Kremlin that senses growing nervousness inside society and is trying to make both exit and communication more difficult. That is not the behavior of a confident system.

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PUTIN IS OPENLY ADMITTING ECONOMIC TROUBLE

For the first time in 26 years, Putin publicly spoke about serious problems in the Russian economy. That alone makes this moment important. For years, even when inflation grew, businesses closed, and the banking sector showed signs of strain, the Kremlin tried to maintain the image that everything was under control. Now even Putin is no longer pretending in the same way.

In this video, we looked at his admission that inflation, slowing growth, and dying sectors of the economy are real and threatening. But what stood out even more was the absence of a solution. He named the problems, yet offered no serious answer beyond orders and vague demands. At the same time, Ukraine continues targeting the oil export terminals Russia needs in order to bring in money. So even if the Kremlin hoped for a short term economic opening, that opening is becoming much less useful when the infrastructure itself is damaged.

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EVEN THE OLIGARCHS ARE BEING WARNED ABOUT WHAT IS COMING

Another very revealing sign came from a separate conversation between Russia’s finance minister and the oligarchs. This matters because the Kremlin may ignore ordinary Russians, but it cannot ignore the wealthy interests that helped build and sustain Putin’s system. And the message they received was not optimistic.

The finance minister reportedly warned them to prepare for difficult times, not to overreact to temporary opportunities in oil revenues, and to expect more turbulence ahead. Big businesses are already worried about taxes, debt, and the widening hole in the federal budget. That suggests the regime understands the crisis is no longer something it can simply hide with propaganda. When even the people closest to power are being quietly prepared for worse conditions, it tells us that the Kremlin sees more instability ahead than it is willing to admit publicly.

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PUTIN’S SUPPORT IS FALLING, AND THE REASONS ARE BECOMING OBVIOUS

This week we also discussed new polling that suggests Putin’s support has fallen back toward the level seen in March 2022, when the failed blitzkrieg shocked many Russians. That is important not because Russian polling is perfectly reliable, but because even a manipulated system can no longer fully hide the decline in confidence.

The reasons are becoming more and more visible. Economic pain is growing. The war is reaching Russian territory more directly. Internet shutdowns, salary problems, and banking difficulties are affecting daily life. And at the very moment when Putin may have hoped for some relief through higher oil revenues, Ukraine is targeting the export terminals that would have made such relief possible. In other words, the political and economic pressures are now reinforcing one another, and that is exactly why his support is slipping again.

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UNREST AT A BURNING OIL TERMINAL SHOWS HOW THESE PROBLEMS ARE COLLIDING

One of the most vivid examples of Russia’s internal strain came from Ust-Luga, where workers arrived at a major oil export terminal even as it was still burning after a Ukrainian strike. Many of these workers were vulnerable migrant laborers, and the situation quickly turned into clashes with security forces.

This story matters because it brings several deeper problems together at once. First, it exposes the gap between Kremlin propaganda and reality: if the damage is supposedly minor, why is the site still closed and under heavy security? Second, it reveals Russia’s dependence on exploited labor and the risks that come with that. Third, it shows how economic disruption, war pressure, and social tension can feed directly into open unrest. We are no longer looking only at abstract indicators. We are seeing the consequences in real confrontations on the ground.

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CLOSING THOUGHTS

Taken together, these stories show us a Russia that is becoming more brittle, more fearful, and more exposed. The Kremlin is trying to cut people off from information, restrict their movement, calm elites, and keep the war economy functioning — all at the same time. But the more pressure builds, the harder it becomes to hide the contradictions. A state that once promised stability is now offering restrictions, shortages, fear, and growing unpredictability.

And that is why these developments matter far beyond Russia itself. The weaker the system becomes internally, the clearer it is that sustained pressure works. Military pressure, economic pressure, and truth itself are all chipping away at the image of control the Kremlin spent years constructing. And for Ukraine, for Europe, and for everyone who wants a safer world, that remains an extremely important reality to understand.

Slava Ukraini.

Hello guys,

This week, we saw more and more proof that the war is becoming impossible for Russia itself to ignore. What the Kremlin tried for years to keep far away from ordinary Russians is now reaching Moscow, military infrastructure, banks, workplaces, and even Putin’s own sense of security. Bit by bit, the consequences of this war are becoming more visible inside the Russian Federation — and so are the cracks in the system.

Moscow is no longer shielded from war

One of the clearest signs of this shift was a major Ukrainian drone operation against targets inside Russia, including around Moscow. The strikes caused disruptions, forced airport closures, and once again exposed how unreliable Russian air defense really is.

But what matters here is not only the physical effect. For years, Moscow lived in a kind of protected bubble while the regions paid the price. Now even the capital is beginning to feel fear, inconvenience, and uncertainty. More and more Russians are being confronted with the reality of the war their state started.

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Repeated strikes are exposing deeper weakness

In another video, we looked at several days of drone attacks around Moscow and strikes on military logistics in Krasnodar region, including oil related infrastructure. These attacks matter because they do much more than create dramatic headlines. They disrupt transport, complicate logistics, and deepen the sense that the Russian system is growing more vulnerable.

They also damage one of Putin’s main myths — the idea that he guarantees order and stability. When Russians see cancelled flights, internet shutdowns, fires, and confusion, it becomes harder to believe that everything is under control.

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Russians are losing trust in their own banks

Another important warning sign came from the financial sphere. In January 2026, Russians withdrew huge amounts of cash from banks, and that tells us a great deal about the mood inside the country. This is not just a financial story. It is a story about fear, mistrust, and growing anxiety.

Blocked cards, ATM problems, internet shutdowns, debt pressure, and worsening economic conditions all feed the same feeling — that the system is no longer dependable. And when people begin to prefer cash over banks, it usually means confidence is eroding much faster than the authorities want to admit.

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Ukraine is striking Russia’s war machine

This week also brought important news about Ukrainian strikes on Russian aviation facilities involved in the production, repair, and maintenance of military aircraft. These are extremely important targets because they are part of the machinery that helps Russia continue this war.

Strikes like these matter on several levels. They can damage infrastructure and equipment, like the destroyed A-50, reduce Russia’s military capacity, and show that even strategically important sites are not truly safe. Every successful hit weakens not only Russia’s war machine, but also the image of strength and control that the Kremlin depends on.

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Putin’s paranoia is becoming more visible

One of the most revealing stories of the week was about Putin himself. Reports suggested that he had avoided appearing in his Kremlin office, apparently because of fears linked to surveillance and security risks. If true, that says a lot about the atmosphere at the top of the Russian system.

Putin built his rule on fear, control, and constant monitoring. Now even he may no longer feel protected by the very machine he created. Combined with panic in Moscow, internet shutdowns, and wider signs of instability, this story fits a much bigger pattern of growing insecurity inside the Kremlin.

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Economic anger is spilling into the streets

We also spoke about protests in Murmansk, where construction workers went on strike after months without pay and reportedly clashed with police. This matters not only as a local story, but as part of a much broader picture.

Delayed salaries, shrinking regional budgets, industrial decline, and rising frustration are creating a far more dangerous atmosphere inside Russia. When people who are used to enduring hardship still decide to protest, it usually means the pressure has become too serious to ignore. And that is exactly what we are beginning to see.

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Closing Thoughts

Taken together, these stories show us something bigger than six separate headlines. Russia is facing growing military, economic, logistical, and psychological pressure, and these pressures are starting to reinforce one another. The war is no longer something the Kremlin can fully isolate, disguise, or hide from its own population.

And that matters not only for Ukraine, but for everyone watching what comes next. The weaker and more unstable the Kremlin becomes, the clearer it is that sustained pressure works — and that this regime is far less solid than it wants the world to believe.

Hello friends,

Every week the news seems to move faster. Moscow shuts down the internet. Regions stop receiving salaries. Military factories explode. And the Kremlin’s budget crisis deepens.

At the same time, the world is beginning to understand something Ukraine has known for years: Russia’s war against us is not an isolated conflict. It is the engine behind instability spreading far beyond Eastern Europe.

This week’s videos explore what is happening inside Russia — economically, politically, and psychologically — and why these developments matter not only for Ukraine but for the entire democratic world. Let’s look at the signals.

Trust in Putin Falls to the Lowest Level Since the Invasion

A new poll inside Russia produced a remarkable result. For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, trust in Vladimir Putin dropped to its lowest level. In an open poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, only about 32% of respondents named Putin as the politician they trust to handle major state decisions.

This may sound technical, but it is extremely significant. The question itself had to be carefully designed. In authoritarian systems you cannot simply ask people whether they support the leader. Instead respondents were asked to name any politician they trust. Even with this protective wording, fewer than one third named Putin. And when Russians explained why their trust declined, they listed the same problems we often discuss:

• rising utility tariffs
• internet shutdowns
• fear of mobilization
• banking restrictions
• economic stagnation

For decades Putin cultivated the image of a strong leader who guaranteed stability. Now that image is cracking. When the economy deteriorates and war returns to Russian territory, loyalty begins to erode. Empires often collapse not when they lose power — but when people stop believing in their leadership.

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Salaries Disappear Across Russian Regions

Another disturbing sign of Russia’s economic crisis is spreading across the regions. Teachers, doctors, and public workers in more than ten Russian regions have begun reporting salary delays or missing payments entirely. These are not wealthy professions even under normal conditions. Yet now many employees simply do not receive the small salaries they rely on.

Local governments offer almost no explanations. Regional governors quietly admit that budgets had to be rewritten because the federal center in Moscow demanded more money for war spending. Russia calls itself a federation, but in reality the system is extremely centralized: resources flow toward Moscow, while financial problems are pushed back to the regions. At the same time a new proposal is circulating in government circles. The Kremlin is reportedly considering mandatory state loan bonds, meaning part of citizens’ salaries would automatically be converted into government debt instruments — essentially forcing people to lend money to the state. In other words, Russians may soon finance the war directly from their own paychecks.

Meanwhile regional budgets collapse, heating systems fail in winter, and local services deteriorate. These are not temporary problems. They are structural symptoms of an economy consumed by war.

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Ukrainian Strikes Paralyze Russia’s Missile Production

While Russia struggles economically, Ukraine continues targeting the infrastructure that sustains its war machine. One of the most important strikes this week hit a microelectronics factory in Bryansk, a facility responsible for producing semiconductors and chips used in Russian precision weapons. These components are essentially the nervous system of modern missiles. Without them, guidance systems cannot function. Destroying such a facility does more than eliminate one factory. It paralyzes multiple weapons programs that depend on those components.

Videos recorded by Russian residents showed powerful explosions and large fires. Even Russian military bloggers acknowledged the scale of the damage. This reflects a clear Ukrainian strategy: when resources are limited, strike the most critical points of the enemy’s production chain. Earlier Ukraine destroyed Russia’s only fiber-optic factory used for drone guidance systems. Moscow had to import replacements from China at high cost. Now another key element of the military production network has been hit.

This is not only about Ukraine’s defense. Russia exports weapons and military technologies that fuel conflicts far beyond Europe. Every disrupted factory reduces the Kremlin’s ability to spread violence elsewhere.

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Russian Bloggers Begin Asking Dangerous Questions

Something else is happening inside Russia’s information space. Even pro-war bloggers are beginning to ask uncomfortable questions.

“Why did we deserve all this?”
“How did the war return to Russia?”
“How did Ukraine become stronger instead of weaker?”

These questions appear after Ukrainian strikes destroyed both the Bryansk semiconductor factory and a military chemical production site in Tolyatti. The irony is painful for Russian propagandists.

In 2022 the Kremlin promised to demilitarize Ukraine in three days. Four years later Ukraine is exporting military expertise — especially in drone warfare — to allies including the United States and Gulf countries seeking protection against Iranian drone attacks. Even Russian bloggers admit the reality: Ukraine has become one of the most technologically adaptive military actors in Europe.

Meanwhile Russian forces are losing territory. According to the Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine recently liberated around 460 square kilometers, the first notable rollback of Russian gains since 2023.

This shift may be modest in size, but it carries enormous psychological significance.

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Moscow Lives Without Internet

Another extraordinary development happened in the Russian capital. For more than a week large parts of Moscow experienced internet shutdowns, sometimes including voice communication. Mobile operators deny responsibility, and officials refuse to explain the outages. The real reason is obvious.

Internet shutdowns make it harder for people to share information about explosions, economic problems, and protests. In authoritarian systems controlling information is often more important than solving problems. But censorship has consequences. During just five days of shutdowns, Moscow businesses reportedly lost around $70 million.

Taxi services, delivery companies, online retail, and payment systems rely heavily on internet infrastructure. When connectivity disappears, economic activity stops.

The irony is striking. Ukraine maintains internet access even under missile attacks.
Russia voluntarily shuts it down in its own capital. One system defends its infrastructure. The other fears its population knowing the truth.

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Russia’s Budget Crisis Reaches the Regions

Behind many of these problems lies a deeper issue: the Kremlin is running out of money. During the first three months of 2026, Russia already reached the budget deficit originally projected for the entire year.

To close the gap, Moscow has tried several measures.

• raising taxes
• pressuring oligarchs
• increasing utility tariffs

None solved the problem.

Regional leaders increasingly complain that Moscow extracts their resources while returning little investment. In Sakha (Yakutia) — a region larger than India rich in gold, diamonds, oil, and gas — living standards rank near the bottom of Russian regions. Residents openly say that Moscow takes their wealth while leaving them poverty and mobilization. Across Russia, people are beginning to connect economic hardship with Kremlin policies. That realization can become politically explosive.

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Global Chaos and the Same Root Cause

Finally, the broader geopolitical picture. Another conflict erupted this week, reminding many Ukrainians of something we have been saying since 2014: unpunished aggression spreads.

Russia, Iran, and North Korea increasingly cooperate militarily. Iranian drones have attacked Ukrainian cities for years. Now Iran openly threatens Ukraine for supplying defensive technologies to countries in the Gulf.

At the same time representatives from these countries are arriving in Kyiv to learn from Ukraine’s experience in drone warfare. Think about the irony. Russia tried to destroy Ukraine in three days. Instead it helped transform Ukraine into a global center of drone defense expertise. Yet while Russia supports Iran’s military programs and shares intelligence, some leaders still consider easing sanctions on Moscow. This rewards the very system fueling instability. The lesson is simple: ignoring aggression does not bring peace. It multiplies conflict.

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Closing Thoughts

What we are witnessing is not a single dramatic collapse. It is a process.

Russia is losing money first.
Then trust.
Then control.
Then loyalty.

Economic crises spread across regions.
Military factories burn.
Internet shutdowns reveal fear inside the regime.

And outside Russia, the consequences of this war ripple across the world.

Ukraine continues resisting under constant attack. At the same time Russia decays from within — economically, institutionally, and morally. This is why appeasement never brings peace. It only delays accountability and prolongs destruction.

Thank you for staying informed, for standing with Ukraine, and for sharing facts when propaganda no longer works.

Slava Ukraini.

This week again demonstrated how quickly the situation inside Russia is deteriorating. What we are witnessing is not just the continuation of the war against Ukraine, but the gradual erosion of the Russian system itself — economically, technologically, and psychologically.

From Ukrainian drone operations in the Black Sea to internet shutdown tests in Moscow, from burning oil terminals to restrictions on bank withdrawals, the same pattern keeps repeating. Russia is trying to continue a war it can no longer afford. And every new decision taken by the Kremlin reveals the growing instability of the system. Let’s look at what happened this week.

Panic in the Kremlin: What the Fall of Allied Regimes Reveals

One of the most telling signals coming from Russia now is the growing panic among the regime’s own ideological supporters. Even figures who were once strong defenders of the Kremlin are now openly criticizing the leadership. One example is Alexander Dugin, long known as one of the ideologists of the so-called “Russian world.” Recently he publicly complained that Russia is simply watching its geopolitical allies collapse one after another.

According to him, the Kremlin leadership keeps pretending that everything is going according to plan while Russia’s influence is shrinking across the globe. And that criticism reflects a real problem. Russia no longer has the resources to support the regimes it once relied on. The Kremlin lacks money, soldiers, and military equipment. As a result, it can only watch as friendly regimes weaken while its own influence erodes.

However, recent reports suggest that Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran about the location of American military assets in the Middle East, including warships and aircraft. In other words, while pretending to stay aside, the Kremlin is quietly helping Tehran understand how to target U.S. forces.

At the same time, Moscow is benefiting from the chaos. Every new escalation in the region pushes oil prices higher, directly strengthening Russia’s war budget. And yet we already hear discussions in Washington about potentially easing sanctions, while India has been allowed to continue buying large volumes of Russian oil.

This would be a huge strategic mistake. Russia is not a neutral observer in this conflict. It has been deeply involved in supporting Iran for years — from intelligence cooperation to technological and nuclear development — and every dollar flowing into the Russian energy sector ultimately helps sustain this dangerous alliance.

At the same time, the war is increasingly returning to Russian territory. Recently 13 Russian regions experienced simultaneous air raid alerts, something many of them had never experienced before. Millions of Russians who once enthusiastically supported the war are now discovering that the conflict can reach their own cities. When war returns home, enthusiasm disappears very quickly.

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Ukrainian Drones Strike Russia’s New Black Sea Fleet Base

Another major development came from the Black Sea region, where Ukrainian forces targeted Russian military infrastructure in Novorossiysk. After Ukraine destroyed the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, the remaining ships and military assets were relocated to this Russian port. The city has since become the new base for what remains of Russia’s naval presence in the region. But even there they are no longer safe.

Ukrainian drones struck several important targets at once: warships, air defense systems, and a major oil transportation terminal known as Sheskharis. This terminal is one of the key hubs through which Russia exports oil.

The attack highlights an important strategic reality. Russia’s war budget relies heavily on oil and gas exports. Every successful strike on energy infrastructure directly affects the Kremlin’s ability to finance its war. The same port also hosts elements of the relocated Black Sea Fleet, making it a legitimate military target. The message is becoming clearer: even deep inside Russia, strategic facilities are vulnerable.

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Russia’s Banking System Begins to Show Cracks

Another alarming signal inside Russia comes from the financial system. Even pro-Kremlin newspapers like Izvestiya have begun reporting that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Russians to withdraw their own money from their own bank accounts.

Major banks are now discussing new procedures that would allow ordinary branch employees to suspend cash withdrawals if they consider a customer’s behavior “suspicious.” In practice, this means that access to personal funds may be delayed or blocked entirely.

Bankers describe the restriction using a very revealing phrase: a “cooling-off period.” In theory, this measure is meant to protect customers. In reality, it appears to be an attempt to keep as much money as possible inside the banking system.

Russia’s federal budget already lacks trillions of rubles, and regional budgets are increasingly empty. The war continues to consume enormous resources. In this situation, restrictions on withdrawals look less like financial regulation and more like a warning sign that the banking system is under serious pressure.

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Russia’s Closing Economy: Businesses Shutting Down

The economic consequences of the war are becoming visible on the streets of Russian cities. A new trend among Russian vloggers illustrates the situation perfectly: they walk through city centers counting how many businesses have closed. Cafés, shops, beauty salons, and small companies are disappearing one after another. Windows are covered with signs saying “closed” or “for rent.”

Even Moscow, once the richest city in Russia, is feeling the impact. The city government recently announced that it must cut 15 percent of civil servants due to budget shortages.

At the same time, taxes are rising sharply, particularly the VAT burden on businesses. Combined with rising rents and economic uncertainty, this pressure is pushing many small and medium-sized companies out of the market. The middle class that had slowly started forming in Russia over the past decades is now being dismantled by the economic consequences of the war. And yet many Russians still ask the same question: why is this happening? The answer is obvious to anyone looking from outside the propaganda bubble.

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A Ukrainian Drone Versus a Russian Helicopter

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Ukrainian forces continue to demonstrate how warfare itself is changing. In the Black Sea, Ukrainian drone operators successfully destroyed a Russian Ka-27 combat helicopter that was approaching a drilling platform used by Russian troops. The operation illustrates a fundamental shift in modern warfare.

A relatively inexpensive drone managed to destroy a multi-million-dollar military helicopter. The attack also demonstrated how effectively Ukrainian operators combine surveillance, patience, and precision strikes.

At the beginning of the invasion, Russia expected to dominate the Black Sea. Today the situation looks very different. Ukrainian drone and missile operations have forced Russian naval assets to retreat and operate with far greater caution.

Ukraine has also developed advanced drone technologies out of necessity, creating solutions that many other countries are now studying carefully. What began as a defensive adaptation is now becoming a new model for modern warfare.

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Moscow Tests a Full Internet Shutdown

Perhaps the most revealing event of the week happened not on the battlefield but in Moscow. The Kremlin tested a complete shutdown of mobile internet and even voice calls in parts of the Russian capital. Residents reported that their phones displayed “emergency calls only” for extended periods of time.

Mobile operators quickly clarified that the shutdown was not caused by technical issues but by “security measures.” In other words, the state deliberately disconnected communication. Such actions reveal deep fear inside the regime. Internet shutdowns make it harder for people to organize protests, share information, or react collectively to economic and political problems.

Russia already led the world in internet shutdowns in 2025. Now even Moscow — the symbolic center of the state — is being used to test how easily communication can be cut off. In the 21st century, this is more than censorship. It disrupts business, transportation, family communication, and emergency services. And it shows how far the Kremlin is willing to go to maintain control.

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Closing Thoughts

When you look at all these developments together, the pattern becomes clear. Russia’s system is under pressure from multiple directions at once. Military failures weaken its geopolitical influence. Ukrainian strikes expose vulnerabilities deep inside the country. Economic strain begins to affect banks, businesses, and regional budgets. And political fear leads the Kremlin to test extreme control measures such as shutting down communication in its own capital. What we are witnessing is not a single dramatic collapse. It is a sequence.

Russia is losing money.
Then trust.
Then control.
Then loyalty.

Ukraine continues to resist under constant attack. At the same time, the Russian system slowly decays from within — economically, institutionally, and morally. That is why appeasement never brings peace. It only delays accountability and prolongs destruction.

Thank you for staying informed, for standing with Ukraine, and for sharing facts when propaganda stops working.

Slava Ukraini. 🇺🇦

Drones Over Moscow, Flamingo Missiles 1,500 km Deep

As this week began, Ukrainian drones controlled the skies above Moscow. Four airports temporarily shut down. Civil aviation disrupted again. More importantly, two Russian combat helicopters were destroyed deep inside Russian territory — and even more symbolically, Ukrainian-made long-range missiles struck a production site in Udmurtia, 1,500 km from the border.

This is the shift that matters:

Russia’s size no longer protects it.
Geography turned from shield into vulnerability.

What once required NATO-scale capabilities is now done with Ukrainian engineering, adaptation, and relentless pressure. Nowhere inside Russia feels untouchable anymore.

Watch more:

Four Years Later: What Putin Actually Triggered

February 2022 was supposed to be Ukraine’s collapse.

Instead:

• The Black Sea Fleet was dismantled.

• Oil and gas revenues — the backbone of the Russian budget — were cut dramatically.

• Ukraine built Europe’s most battle-experienced army.

Putin aimed to destroy Ukraine. He triggered the long-term destabilization of the Russian Federation. And four years later, even Russian elites are beginning to sense it.

Watch more:

Smolensk Evacuations & Panic in Moscow

War has returned home to Russia. In Smolensk, evacuations followed the destruction of a military-linked chemical facility. In Moscow, security panic escalated after repeated car explosions and increasing attacks targeting regime-linked figures. Putin responded not by protecting citizens — but by increasing protection for generals, FSB officers, and elite officials. That reveals the hierarchy: the regime protects itself first. And when the capital begins behaving nervously, the myth of control erodes faster than propaganda can repair it.

Watch more:

Belgorod & Sochi: Two Different Russias, Same Conclusion

Belgorod is a disaster zone: heating problems, constant alerts, infrastructure damage. Even the governor openly complains about lack of federal protection.

Sochi — once a showcase resort — lost over 30% of tourists in 2025, and nearly 40% in early 2026. Flights are expensive. Airspace closures are frequent. Civil aviation is deteriorating. Different climates. Different economies. Same message:The Kremlin does not prioritize regional stability. And regions are starting to feel abandoned.

Watch more:

Regional Bankruptcy: 74 out of 83 in Trouble

The numbers tell the structural story. Russia’s regional budgets lack roughly $20 billion.
In 2024, 50 regions were in serious deficit. By the end of 2025, that number rose to 74 out of 83. Even Moscow reports deficit. Oil and gas regions that once fueled the empire are now short billions. The National Wealth Fund is drained. The federal budget runs negative. And when regions go bankrupt, loyalty weakens. Economic fracture precedes political fracture.

Watch more:

Iran Escalation & the Weakening Axis

Another conflict ignites in Iran. And Moscow — once positioning itself as protector of allied regimes — is noticeably absent. Syria already learned this lesson. Venezuela understood it.
Now Iran does too.

Russia cannot meaningfully protect its partners — not because it chooses restraint, but because it lacks capacity. At the same time, global instability grows. Unpunished aggression multiplies. Rules weaken. Hybrid wars expand. This is not separate from Ukraine. It is part of the same domino effect. Russia must be defeated.

Watch more:

Closing Thoughts

• War returned to Russian territory.

• Regional budgets are collapsing.

• Allies question Moscow’s reliability.

• Security panic spreads inside the capital.

• The economic core is damaged.

This is not one dramatic collapse moment. This is structural erosion. And the longer the war continues, the more the imbalance grows. The only working peace plan remains what it has always been: Defeat and demilitarize Russia. Thank you for reading, for thinking critically, and for standing with Ukraine.

History sometimes moves quietly. And sometimes it moves with explosions in the skies above the capital of the largest country in the world.

What we are witnessing now is not one dramatic collapse. It is something more dangerous for the Kremlin — a slow, visible unraveling.

Drones Above the Russian Capital

Every week now, Russian regions wake up to the sound of air defense systems. Moscow, Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod, Kaluga, Tula, Vladimir, Tatarstan — the list grows longer.

Flights are cancelled. Airports close. Governors post nervous updates. The mayor of Moscow tries to sound calm while drones fly over the city he promised would remain secure.

This was unthinkable in 2022.

Back then, everyone predicted Ukraine would collapse. Today, economists and military analysts speak openly about the vulnerability of the Russian Federation. Even at the Munich Security Conference, the discussion was no longer about whether Putin would win — but about how many of his strategic goals he has already failed.

He did not capture Ukraine.
He did not secure the territories he promised.
He pushed Finland and Sweden into NATO.
And he turned dozens of Russian regions into active war zones.

Russia’s size, once its pride, now works against it. Air defense cannot cover everything. Systems are destroyed near occupied territories. Resources are stretched thin. The war that was supposed to remain “over there” is now overhead.

Watch more:

The Economic Flagships Begin to Sink

For decades, the image of Russia’s strength was tied to its giants: oil, gas, railroads, oligarch empires built on natural resources: Lukoil, Gazprom, Rosneft, Russian Railways. These companies were not just corporations. They were pillars of the federal budget. Symbols of stability. Engines of Putin’s regime.

In 2025, Lukoil reported losing half of its revenue.

Half.

Oil is sold at heavy discounts. Refineries have been targeted. Assets abroad were confiscated. The global market no longer moves in Moscow’s favor. Now these same giants request support from the federal budget. But the federal budget is already in deficit.

Russian Railways carries trillions in debt. Cargo volumes decline as metallurgy, coal and construction industries shrink. Banks are pressured to rescue failing companies. Companies default. Banks weaken further. Depositors withdraw savings. It is an avalanche effect. Every attempted solution worsens another problem. And when the backbone weakens, the body cannot stand.

Watch more:

Explosions in the Interior

The pressure is not only financial. A military commandant’s office near St. Petersburg collapsed after a powerful explosion. A chemical plant in Perm was hit. The Ilsky oil refinery near Kazan was targeted. These are not symbolic locations — they are nodes in the war machine. Each strike sends multiple messages at once.

It disrupts production.
It weakens logistics.
It exposes security failures.
And it demotivates potential recruits. Even training centers are no longer safe.

Deep inside Russia, far from the original front lines, the infrastructure of war is being eroded. When war reaches inward, confidence fractures.

Watch more:

The Russian Regions Turn Restless

But the most sensitive pressure point is not military. It is financial. What makes apolitical Russians protest? Money.

In Tuva, bus drivers went on strike after unpaid salaries. In Komi, authorities admitted they could not pay state workers before the New Year. In Khakassia, the collapse of coal revenues left a multi-billion-ruble hole in the regional budget. Teachers. Doctors. Utility workers. For the first time in years, nearly every federal subject has seen protests.

Taxi drivers organized nationwide action over fuel prices and collapsing demand. Inflation erodes savings. Deposits shrink. Regions watch Moscow absorb resources while local budgets dry up.

Blocking Telegram was not about NATO propaganda. It was about coordination. But financial reality travels faster than censorship.

Watch more:

The Fear of General Conscription

Putin now faces a dilemma. The war of attrition demands more soldiers. But general mobilization is politically explosive. In 2022, partial mobilization triggered the flight of one million Russians — many from the educated and economically active class. That memory remains fresh.

Today, the situation is worse. The federal budget is strained. Payments to contract soldiers are reduced in many regions. Recruitment numbers decline. In January alone, Russian losses exceeded new conscription by thousands. Ukraine neutralizes more soldiers per month than the Kremlin can mobilize. If general mobilization is declared, protests could escalate. Especially in regions already struggling with unpaid salaries and collapsing industries.

A regime built on the illusion of stability now risks taking people directly from the streets to compensate for its own strategic failures.

Watch more:

Even the Russian Oligarchs Speak

Perhaps the most revealing signal comes from inside the system. The head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs publicly criticized the Kremlin’s tax policy: VAT increased, thresholds lowered, more tax hikes are expected. Over half of large Russian companies ended 2025 with falling profits. Dozens of major firms have already failed debt obligations in 2026. Defaults multiply. Single-industry towns — entire cities dependent on one factory or mine — face collapse when that industry fails.

For 25 years, Putin relied on oligarch loyalty. They financed the system. He protected their interests. Now some of them openly question him. When mafia structures begin arguing publicly, it is not about ideology. It is about survival.

Watch more:

Closing Thoughts

This is not a cinematic collapse. It is a structural one. The sequence is becoming clear:

Military strain.
Revenue decline.
Budget deficits.
Regional unrest.
Corporate defaults.
Elite doubt.

Ukraine resists under constant attack. Russia decays from within — economically, institutionally, psychologically. Appeasement does not stop this process. It only prolongs the damage. The only working peace plan remains the same: defeat and demilitarize Russia.

Thank you for staying informed, for standing with Ukraine, and for helping facts travel faster than fear.

Hello dear friends,

This week again showed us something deeper than daily headlines. What we observe is not chaos. It is a structural weakening of the Russian system — political cracks, digital collapse, economic panic, and growing fear inside the Kremlin.

Let’s go step by step.

The Collapse Signals Are No Longer Hidden

For the first time during Putin’s 25-year rule, pro-Kremlin voices — military bloggers and even state propagandists like Solovyov — began openly criticizing the Russian government.

When state media personalities start naming hard facts — high interest rates destroying businesses, thousands of closed shops and restaurants in Moscow, collapsing construction, empty apartment blocks, oil sold at heavy discounts — this means the crisis is too visible to hide.

Russia is already selling oil far below projected prices. Budget pressure is rising. Billions in private assets have been confiscated. VAT increased. New taxes discussed. Banking experts warn of serious instability in 2026. When propaganda names the problem, the problem is already systemic.

Watch more:

Belgorod Governor Breaks the Silence

The governor of the Belgorod region, Gladkov publicly criticized Putin. Belgorod is effectively a war zone — explosions, damaged infrastructure, heating outages, evacuations. Requests for additional air defense were repeatedly denied by Moscow.

For the first time, a regional leader admitted openly: this is the fifth year of war. For years the Kremlin avoided that word. But when Russian regions experience air raid alerts themselves, the narrative collapses. This is not just a local conflict. It is a signal that Moscow can no longer protect its own regions.

Watch more:

Starlink Is Off — And Panic Follows

Russian soldiers lost access to Starlink. A regime that claims to fight NATO was relying on Western satellite internet to coordinate its army. Once terminals were shut down, thousands of Russian units lost battlefield communication.

At the same time, Telegram began slowing down inside Russia. Starlink off. Telegram restricted. This is digital collapse during active war — and it was triggered by the Kremlin’s own fear.

Watch more:

Messenger Shutdown: Fear of Protests

Telegram, WhatsApp, YouTube — restricted. Even pro-Putin figures criticized the move. Regions like Belgorod relied on Telegram for air raid alerts. Soldiers used it for coordination. Bloggers used it for fundraising. The official explanation: protection from NATO influence. The real reason: fear of protests.

Taxi drivers protesting taxes. Regional unrest. Economic frustration. Messenger platforms allow coordination. Blocking them is preventive repression.

When the largest country in the world cuts communication across itself, it signals panic — not strength.

Watch more:

Ukrainian Strikes 2,000 km Deep — And Dignity Matters

Ukrainian drones and domestically produced missiles resumed deep strikes inside Russia. Oil refineries targeted in Volgograd region and Komi. Missile arsenals were neutralized in Volgograd too. Strategic sites hit over 2,000 km from the Ukrainian border.

Russia has already lost around 50% of its oil and gas revenues in 2025. Energy income remains central to its federal budget.

At the same time, the International Olympic Committee disqualified Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych for commemorating fallen Ukrainian athletes on his helmet. No slogans. Just portraits. But moral clarity remains on our side.

Watch more:

Propaganda Turns Against the Kremlin

Solovyov and other loyal figures began listing:

– destructive interest rates
– dying construction sector
– collapsing metallurgy
– oil discounts
– unsold housing
– empty commercial centers

The central bank adjusts projections downward. Assets worth billions confiscated. Mobilization fears return. If a full war economy begins, oligarch assets may be nationalized. That creates elite conflict. When propaganda starts describing collapse — collapse is already underway.

Watch more:

Munich: No More Illusions

At the Munich Security Conference, President Zelensky proposed something sharp: Ukraine is ready for a ceasefire — for Russian elections. It was not a joke. It was a message about legitimacy we rarely discuss. Putin rules Russia for more than a quarter of a century! Just think about this.

Ukraine now demilitarizes more Russian soldiers per month than Russia can conscript. Strategically, the erosion is visible.

Security guarantees? Ukraine remembers Budapest. Paper promises do not stop missiles. Strength does. And slowly, Europe begins to understand that.

Watch more:

Closing Thoughts

What we are witnessing is not a single dramatic collapse. It is an irreversible sequence:

Russia is losing money.
Then trust.
Then control.
Then loyalty.

Digital shutdowns reveal fear.
Economic data reveal decay.
Regional leaders reveal fragmentation.
Propagandists reveal doubt.

Ukraine resists under constant attack. Russia decays from within — economically, institutionally, morally. Appeasement does not bring peace. It delays accountability and prolongs destruction.

Thank you for staying informed, for standing with Ukraine, and for sharing facts when propaganda no longer works.

United we stand. 💙💛

This week’s developments inside Russia once again show that nothing there exists in isolation. Compromise, corruption, economic decay, internal violence, and fear are not separate stories — they are layers of the same system, now visibly cracking.

Epstein Files and the Kremlin’s Old Toolkit

The newly released Epstein files forced an extremely uncomfortable topic back into public space — and for a reason.

Putin’s name appears repeatedly. Moscow appears thousands of times. And once you start reading, one pattern becomes impossible to ignore: too many Russian connections, too many “Russian girls,” too many links to people tied to Russian security services for this to be coincidence.

This is not about scandal for scandal’s sake. It is about methods.

Putin is a KGB–FSB officer by training. Honey traps, kompromat, personal leverage — this is not exotic behavior for the Kremlin. It is routine. Epstein’s network fits disturbingly well into the logic of how Russia has historically operated abroad: through access, secrecy, blackmail, and influence over people who later make “inexplicable” decisions against their own countries’ interests.

Some of the women involved were clearly victims. Others appear to have been trained, connected, and placed deliberately. The overlap with Russian officials, diplomats, and intermediaries raises serious questions about how deeply this network was integrated into Moscow’s foreign influence strategy. It is ugly. It is disturbing. And it explains more than many people want to admit.

Discover more:

The Banking Crisis Russia Can No Longer Hide

After years of denial, even pro-Kremlin economists are now saying openly what they tried to postpone: Russia has entered a systemic banking crisis.

By classical financial criteria, the situation is already critical. Bad loans exceed safe limits. Depositors are withdrawing trillions of rubles. Trust in banks is collapsing. Internet outages and ATM restrictions only fuel panic further.

This is happening despite the fact that the Kremlin already sold 71% of its physical gold reserves to keep the system alive.

Banking is not a technical sector. It is the bloodstream of the economy. When people no longer trust banks, businesses freeze, salaries disappear, and regions begin to fail one by one. Russia is no longer managing a crisis. It is burning reserves to slow down collapse — and running out of fuel.

Discover more:

Budget Panic: The Kremlin Is Missing 1.2 Trillion Rubles

According to Bloomberg, the Kremlin is urgently searching for 1.2 trillion rubles just to keep the federal budget functioning and continue the war. This is not a forecast for the end of the year. This is the beginning of 2026.

Oil and gas revenues collapsed. Military spending remains enormous. So the Kremlin turns to what it always turns to in late stages: higher taxes, lower VAT thresholds, more pressure on small and medium businesses.

VAT was raised. Thresholds were lowered. Environmental fees are discussed — not to protect nature, but to fund missiles and bombs. Regional budgets are abandoned. Utilities fail. Payments to soldiers are quietly reduced.

Putin has no Plan B. Ending the war would mean admitting failure. Continuing it destroys Russia faster. That contradiction now defines the entire system.

Discover more:

Oil and Gas Revenues Collapse by 50 Percent

Russia’s oil and gas revenues fell 50% year-on-year, reaching the lowest level of Putin’s entire rule. For a country built almost entirely on natural-resource exports, this is not a fluctuation — it is structural damage.

The 2026 budget was planned around $59 per barrel. Reality is closer to $35, sometimes even $27 with discounts. India signals reductions. Secondary sanctions loom. Refineries are damaged. Ports and terminals are under pressure.

Oil once held the Russian state together. Now it exposes how fragile it has become. When money disappears, loyalty follows.

Discover more:

“Three to Four Months”: What Oligarchs Are Warning About

According to Western media, Russian insiders, and oligarchs themselves, the Russian economy may have three to four months before a major breakdown.

Inflation is two to three times higher than official numbers. Layoffs spread through companies that once symbolized stability. Restaurants and cafés in Moscow are closing faster than during the pandemic — an especially alarming sign, because Moscow is normally protected at any cost.

The National Wealth Fund is nearly empty. Gold reserves are gone. No sector is strong enough to support the rest. Yet war spending continues as if resources were infinite. This is what late-stage economic panic looks like — just before it spills fully into daily life.

Discover more:

Justice Reaches Moscow

This week, another myth collapsed publicly: the myth of invincible Russian security services.

A senior Russian military intelligence general — directly linked to missile strikes on Ukrainian civilians, the betrayal of prisoners of war, and Wagner coordination — was attacked in Moscow and is now in critical condition. What matters here is not only who did it, but what it reveals.

Moscow was long presented as a protected bubble, far from the war it launched. That illusion is gone. Internal rivalries between military intelligence and the FSB are intensifying. Trust inside the system is collapsing, power structures are turning inward, defensive, and paranoid.

Whether this was Ukrainian intelligence or an internal Russian purge, the message is the same: the center no longer holds. Moscow is no longer safe even for those who built the system.

Discover more:

Closing Thoughts

What we are witnessing is not a single dramatic collapse, not one spectacular moment that can be isolated and explained away. It is a process. Slow, cumulative, and irreversible.

It begins with money. Russia is losing it at a pace that can no longer be hidden by statistics or propaganda. Revenues fall, reserves are burned, budgets crack. What follows is not abstract economics but something much more dangerous for an authoritarian system — the loss of trust. People stop trusting banks, stop trusting official numbers, stop trusting promises that tomorrow will somehow be better.

Then control weakens. Not all at once, not everywhere, but visibly. Systems fail. Regions are left alone. Institutions turn inward, competing with each other instead of functioning as a whole. Decisions are made out of fear rather than strategy. Loyalty, once bought with money and stability, becomes fragile. It has to be enforced, and enforcement is always a sign of weakness, not strength.

Ukraine, meanwhile, resists under constant attack. Not because it is easy, not because it is painless, but because there is moral clarity about what this war is and what surrender would mean. Russia, by contrast, decays from within — economically, institutionally, morally — precisely because this war has no truth to stand on, no future to offer, and no justice to justify it.

This is why appeasement never brings peace. It does not stop violence. It postpones accountability and allows destruction to spread further, into more lives, more countries, more systems. Peace comes not from pretending that collapse is stability, but from confronting reality and ending the source of the violence.

Thank you for staying informed. Thank you for standing with Ukraine. And thank you for sharing facts in a world where propaganda still hopes that silence and fatigue will do its work.

This week’s developments inside Russia make one thing increasingly clear: the Russian state is no longer able to sustain normal life while fighting a long war. What began as a promised blitzkrieg has turned into a slow, grinding collapse that now reaches banking, aviation, utilities, logistics, food supply, and even political loyalty.

Unlike Ukraine, where destruction is the result of deliberate Russian attacks, Russia’s crisis is self-inflicted. Budgets are empty, reserves are being liquidated, infrastructure is decaying, and the system that once relied on fear and silence is beginning to crack.

Below is a detailed overview of the most important processes we observed this week.

Utilities Collapse Across Russia

Blackouts, heating failures, water shortages — from the Arctic to Moscow

Russian regions are facing a growing breakdown of basic services: electricity, heating, gas, and water. This is no longer isolated or seasonal. It is systemic.

Key examples:

• Murmansk and Severomorsk suffered a large-scale blackout after the collapse of five power line pillars. These pillars had not been replaced or modernized since 1966.

• Severomorsk, a closed military city and home to Russia’s Northern Fleet, was affected alongside civilian Murmansk.

• Moscow region districts were left without heating and electricity during winter temperatures.

• Saratov region residents reported being without heating for over 10 days.

• Kamchatka experienced massive snowstorms with no effective emergency response, leaving entire neighborhoods inaccessible.

Russian authorities initially attempted to blame sabotage or “foreign interference,” but ultimately admitted the real cause: obsolete infrastructure and lack of maintenance. The contrast with Ukraine is crucial. Ukrainian cities suffer outages because Russia targets energy infrastructure as a weapon of war. Russian cities suffer because Russia no longer has the money to maintain its own country.

▶ Video:

Russian Aviation: One Day That Exposed Everything

2,000 flights cancelled, 20 billion rubles lost

Russia’s civil aviation system experienced one of its worst failures in history when the nationwide booking system Leonardo collapsed.

Consequences:

• Around 2,000 flights cancelled in one day
  

• At least 20,000 passengers stranded
  

• Estimated 20 billion rubles in direct losses
  

This was not a Ukrainian cyberattack. The most likely cause was Russia’s own internet restrictions, introduced to control information and suppress dissent. The system depends on international servers and stable connectivity — both undermined by Kremlin policies.

Context matters:

• In 2025, 4.5 million passengers were stranded due to airspace closures.
  

• Russian airlines have lost more than half of their operational fleet.
  

• Aircraft are being cannibalized for spare parts.
  

• Old Soviet-era planes from the 1960s–70s are being returned to service.
  

• Promises to produce 120 aircraft per year resulted in about 12 aircraft over four years.
  

Russia is now flying fewer planes, older planes, with less maintenance — and even that system is collapsing digitally.

▶ Video:

Russia Is Selling Its Last Safety Net

71% of physical gold reserves already gone

To finance a war that was supposed to last weeks, Russia has already sold 71% of its physical gold reserves from the National Wealth Fund.

This is a critical threshold:

• Gold is the last reserve of a state.
  

• It is being used to:
  

  • Cover federal budget deficits
    

  • Support state-owned banks
    

  • Finance military expenditures
    

• If spending continues at the current pace, Russia will need to sell most of the remaining 29% in 2026.
  

At the same time:

• Inflation is significantly higher than official figures.
  

• VAT increases are hitting small businesses.
  

• Russians face ATM withdrawal restrictions and blocked cards.
  

• Prices in stores grow faster than wages or pensions.
  

In any country, selling gold at this scale is a sign not of strength, but of desperation.

▶ Video:

The Slowest War Advance in Modern History

15 meters per day at catastrophic human cost

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Russia is now advancing at the slowest pace in over a century of modern warfare — worse than during World War I trench warfare.

The numbers are stark:

• ~15 meters gained per day
  

• ~1,000 soldiers killed per day
  

• ~35,000 per month
  

• Less than 1% of Ukrainian territory gained in 2024–2025
  

Even Russian military bloggers and nationalist commentators now openly admit:
the price is enormous, the result is negligible. This is why Moscow increasingly pushes political pressure and coercion instead of military success — because the battlefield is no longer delivering results.

▶ Video:

Banking System Retreats from the Country

1,700 branches closed in one year

Russian banks closed 1,700 branches in 2025 alone, the highest number in four years.

Key facts:

• Sberbank shut down ~900 branches.

• Total branches dropped from ~30,000 to ~23,000 nationwide.

• Closures hit remote regions hardest, where digital banking is unreliable or unavailable.

This is not digitization:

• Russia ranked #1 globally for internet shutdowns in 2025.

• Physical branches are required to access many financial services.

• Closing branches restricts people’s access to their own money.

At the same time, banks survive largely due to injections from the National Wealth Fund, which itself is being drained by war spending.

▶ Video:

Shortages, Salaries, and the Return of Soviet Practices

When “stability” disappears, silence breaks

Across Russia, everyday life is deteriorating:

• Belgorod supermarkets face product shortages.
  

• The Far North struggles with logistics and fuel supply.
  

• Siberia reports delayed salaries and rising personal debt.
  

• Authorities discuss food vouchers instead of cash payments.
  

These practices echo the final years of the USSR:

• Goods exist on paper but vanish from shelves.
  

• Money exists nominally but cannot be accessed.
  

• The population is expected to remain silent while living conditions worsen.
  

The old social contract — political obedience in exchange for stability — is no longer functioning.

▶ Video:

A Crack in the Political System

A Russian deputy speaks — and is not silenced

For the first time in 25 years, a regional deputy in Samara publicly criticized the war during an official session.

What made this moment exceptional:

• He stated the war is unwinnable.

• He cited Russia’s 2% share of global GDP versus 50%+ for Ukraine’s supporters.

• He called for ending the war and sharing responsibility for failure.

• No one cut his microphone.

• The video spread freely online.

This does not mean democracy. It means fear and fracture inside the system — when censorship no longer reacts fast enough.

▶ Video:

Closing Thoughts

Russia’s collapse is not a single dramatic moment or a sudden breaking point. It unfolds gradually, step by step, through processes that can no longer be hidden or reversed. Infrastructure fails, logistics unravel, banking systems shrink and freeze, reserves are burned to sustain an unwinnable war, and finally loyalty erodes — not because people become brave, but because survival becomes harder than silence.

Ukraine, meanwhile, resists under constant attack. Not in theory, not in speeches, but in everyday reality — under drones, missiles, blackouts, and pressure meant to break morale. And yet it is Russia, not Ukraine, that is rotting from within. The war Putin brought abroad is returning home through empty budgets, broken services, and growing distrust between the state and its own population.

This is why appeasement never brings peace. It only delays responsibility and multiplies destruction. A regime that feeds on denial does not stop when rewarded — it collapses when it can no longer sustain its own lies.

Thank you for staying informed, for supporting Ukraine, and for choosing facts when propaganda fails.

I am so excited to launch this newsletter on Substack and add a bit of the Ukrainian perspective on what is going on in Ukraine, and Russia. Yes, Russia, because this week Russia kept demonstrating something it tried very hard to hide for years: it is not a stable “fortress,” it is a fragile system held together by propaganda, fear, and emergency patchwork. And when stress hits several layers at once – utilities, banking, aviation, public mood – the cracks stop being regional. They become national.

Blackouts Reach Moscow and Key Military Sites

Thousands of people were left without electricity not only in Ukraine, but also inside Russia, including Moscow and Krasnodar regions. This matters because Russia is extremely centralized: when disruptions touch the capital and strategic hubs, they become a political problem.

In the Moscow Region (suburbs), a fire at a major electric substation left people without power. That substation supplies electricity to the Russian Military Academy of Missile Forces, located less than 3.5 km away. And this is happening in extreme cold, down to –31°C at night.

At the same time, another major outage hit the Krasnodar region, leaving about 80,000 people without electricity. This was not a random location: it is a military hub, close to a military air base and a known area of drone storage and logistics, including a Shahed drone arsenal Ukraine destroyed in 2024.

A broader point from the video: the Kremlin increasingly relies on internet shutdowns to prevent people from sharing information about blackouts, explosions, cancelled flights, and rising prices. In 2025, Russia ranked at the top globally for internet shutdowns, which is not a sign of strength – it is a sign of fear.

Discover more here:

Utilities Collapse Across Russia Reaches Moscow’s Doorstep

Dozens of Russian regions are now facing utilities collapse. Millions of people lack access to basic services: gas, water, heating, electricity. And the key point: this is not about Ukrainian drones. It is about decades of corruption, neglect, and now budget exhaustion made worse by war spending.

The crisis that used to be concentrated in the Far North and Far East has now reached regions close to the capital. Near Moscow, authorities were forced to declare a state of emergency because more than 20,000 people lost heating and hot water.

In the Ryazan region, which borders Moscow, the situation became even more severe: in one major district, more than 80,000 people across dozens of villages were affected. They faced a combined collapse – no water, gas, electricity, heating, plus loss of mobile connection and even access to shops. The Kremlin was not in a hurry to solve it.

In the first two weeks of January 2026, inflation rose by 1.26%, and everyday life became more expensive exactly while people were freezing in dark apartments. Meanwhile, Russia increased VAT by 2% and lowered the threshold for who must pay it, which threatens to crush small businesses further. In some regions, such as Zabaykalsky Krai and Khakassia, people stopped receiving salaries.

Discover more here:

Millions of Russians Lose Access to Their Money

A major red flag inside Russia’s banking system: since the beginning of 2026, Russian banks blocked millions of cards and accounts.

Even by official figures, 2–3 million Russians lost access to their money in less than three weeks, the first two and a half weeks of January. That is more than 2% of active bank clients, an enormous share for such a short time.

People reported being unable to do normal daily operations: buy basic goods, pay for services, send money. The banks call it “anti-fraud,” but lawyers and experts inside Russia argue the scale points to something deeper: a coordinated attempt to slow withdrawals and keep money trapped inside the system.

This comes after a long period of cash withdrawal behavior. Russians had been pulling trillions of rubles out of the system, and banks were publicly begging them not to do it. Now the response seems to be widening the “fraud indicators” to absurd levels, flagging even typical transactions (like repeated purchases in the same shop), so money stays longer inside banks.

The conclusion was blunt: when millions cannot access their own accounts, it is a sign of systemic weakness, not customer protection.

Discover more here:

Russians Withdraw Record Cash and the Kremlin Sells Gold to Fund Itself

According to The Moscow Times, Russians withdrew a record amount of cash in 2025, the highest level in a decade, adding about 1 trillion rubles into circulation. And most importantly: 80% of that happened in the last quarter of 2025, when problems in Russia visibly intensified – geopolitical failures, front-line reality, and widening distrust.

The Kremlin’s broken “social contract”: citizens give up rights and political freedoms, the state provides stability. Now stability is gone. And the Kremlin’s own tactics are backfiring. Russia became number one in the world for internet shutdowns in 2025, but shutting down the internet pushed people toward cash because they could not pay online, which only accelerates panic.

To cover cash demand and budget holes, the Kremlin had to sell off three quarters of its gold reserves on a scale far larger than earlier years. That gold is used to finance the federal budget and support banks suffering from withdrawals. They are selling national reserves to keep funding a war budget that burns money into missiles.

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Putin Disappears as Questions Become Too Dangerous

Putin disappears from public view when problems pile up – it is a classic KGB tactic: when there are no good answers, he hides. This time his absence lasted long enough that even loyalist military bloggers and governors from frontline regions openly asked: where is he, and why isn’t he giving instructions?

One reason is the openly admitted budget stress: the Russian Ministry of Finance warned that the budget deficit would grow sharply already in the first month of 2026, and that the year would repeat last year’s pattern but in a “sharper form” because oil and gas revenues are even lower.

Russian TV tried to cover the absence with canned footage, including Epiphany videos that were clearly old. The message: even propaganda is struggling to keep the story coherent.

Historically, Russian imperial projects collapsed under economic pressure. When the budget breaks, the regime breaks and the fact that even the Ministry of Finance is warning the public is a sign of serious internal tension.

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Russia Runs Out of Planes and Reverts to Soviet Aviation

Russia’s civil aviation is in crisis – another measurable indicator of decline under sanctions and mismanagement.

After expecting a short war, the Kremlin did not prepare for long-term sanctions. Russia tried smuggling parts, then cannibalizing planes, but the fleet is aging and shrinking. This winter brought multiple serious incidents, including an engine failure on an old Boeing scheduled to fly Magadan to Moscow. Major incidents occurred on routes Moscow–Cuba and Moscow–Phuket.

Russia’s response is to “reintroduce” Soviet aircraft, classic Russian newspeak for regression. Planes that may be older than the passengers, pulled out because they have no real replacement capacity.

At the start of the full-scale invasion, 75% of Russia’s commercial aircraft were built in the US, EU, or Canada. Russia is not self-sufficient, regardless of the propaganda. And despite promises to build replacements, Russia planned 127 aircraft per year but produced only around 12 over these years. The gap is the story.

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Moscow Traffic Paralyzed by Putin’s Fear

Moscow paralyzed for an entire day because Putin traveled to a nearby region. Security closed highways and effectively shut down movement across the city. Hundreds of thousands of people were stuck and, importantly, Russian Telegram comments showed growing anger, not admiration.

The key fear is not only Ukrainian drones. It is Putin’s fear of his own population, the disappointment of people who once supported the “special operation” and now see:

• economic collapse,

• rising prices and taxes,

• fear of general conscription,

• explosions and air raids on Russian territory,

• blocked bank accounts and ATM restrictions,

• geopolitical losses (Venezuela, Iran, Syria, seized tankers discussed online),

• and weeks where Putin simply disappeared.

This is not “Putin’s war” alone. It is the war of millions of Russians – soldiers, engineers, operators, and those who enabled it. But the failure may still trigger internal elite calculations: oligarchs and “friends who are enemies” may decide to replace him.

Closing Moscow for a short trip is not a strength. It is panic. And panic grows when the dictator knows that stability, the one thing he promised, is gone.

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Final Thought

If you put these seven stories together – blackouts, utilities collapse, banking restrictions, cash runs, gold liquidation, aviation decay, and a leader hiding from his own people – you get one picture: a system under cumulative stress.

No single episode ends a regime. But this is how regimes begin to lose control: when the state cannot provide basic services, cannot guarantee access to money, cannot keep transport systems safe, and cannot even pretend that the leader is present.

Thank you for reading, thank you for your support, and thank you for standing with Ukraine.

Love,

Anna from Ukraine