(MOSCOW) – The Russian dictator has been forced to deploy air defence technicals to the centre of the capital as Ukrainian drone swarms continue to target the Moscow region for a second consecutive day. Reports indicate that air defence crews, equipped with pickup trucks mounting heavy machine guns, are currently positioned around the Kremlin and on top of the Lenin Mausoleum to protect the site from incoming aerial threats. The sustained attacks have led to significant disruption of air travel, the severance of mobile phone networks, and reports of landlines being partially cut off. Residents in Moscow and Saint Petersburg have experienced intermittent internet blackouts as the Kremlin seeks to prevent the dissemination of footage documenting the strikes.
The Ukrainian drones, described as mass produced equivalents to the Iranian Shahed, reportedly possess a flight range of up to 1,200 kilometres. Launched from regions including Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv, and Chernihiv, the units typically fly in waves of eight to ten drones, each carrying up to 50 kilograms of explosives. While the Russian military claims to have intercepted over 200 drones in a single night, these figures remain unverified and are viewed with scepticism by international observers.
Simultaneously, the Kremlin has intensified domestic surveillance by mandating that all military personnel and university students install an FSB controlled messaging application named Max. Russian soldiers found using Telegram on the front lines reportedly face reassignment to high risk suicide meat attacks as punishment. This transition has caused a collapse in Russian military logistics and communications, a situation the Ukrainian Armed Forces are currently exploiting to facilitate slow advances in Zaporizhzhia.
Moscow University students reportedly face the withholding of their diplomas should they refuse to install the software, which is required to access the state portal for graduation documents.
On the western border, Estonia is leading a proposal within the European Union to deny Schengen Area access to all current and former Russian combatants. This initiative is supported by Lithuania, Finland, Poland, Germany, Romania, Latvia, and Sweden. The move follows the discovery of a pro Russian separatist Telegram group titled the Narva People’s Republic, which mimics the rhetoric used by the Russian dictator prior to the 2014 invasion of Ukraine. Estonian internal police, Kapo, are reportedly monitoring these cells and have begun escorting identified threats to the Russian border.
In the Russian Far East, local officials in Novosibirsk have declared a rabies emergency, leading to the forced slaughter and burning of hundreds of cows. Small scale farmers, who face immediate bankruptcy, have accused the government of creating a monopoly for large, politically connected farms that were spared from the slaughter. Observers suggest the resulting loss of livelihood is a deliberate tactic to force rural men into the Russian military.
In the Middle East, Iranian drones have struck the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah, targeting a facility that houses over 350 fuel tanks. The strike has contributed to rising global fuel prices, with costs in Estonia reaching €2.00 per litre (approximately $7.57 per US gallon). The United States has responded by deploying new GBU 72 advanced 5K penetrator bunker buster bombs, developed in 2021, against Iranian anti ship missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz. Satellite imagery of the strikes on Iranian naval facilities in Bushehr confirms a level of precision that remains absent in the Russian dictator’s missile campaigns in Ukraine.
