The russian tactic of concentrating a large number of drones and missiles, attacking one place, has significantly increased the effectiveness of their attacks. Yesterday, such an attack was carried out on the Dnipro and the region.
https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/articles/c5yl3e63kn0o?xtor=AL-73-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bukr%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bukrainian%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5DAt Monday’s meeting of Ukraine allies, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he agreed with the administration that Berlin would “contribute to providing” five Patriots, without elaborating. Berlin has already given Ukraine three systems and is in talks with Washington about sending more and getting replacements, officials said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/07/26/europe-ukraine-us-weapons-deal/This is good, but still too little considering the size of Ukraine. Moreover, the Patriots still have nothing to oppose the thousands of cheap drones that have become the main weapon recently.
Satellite imagery shows that construction has sharply accelerated at the site in southern russia. Dozens of new buildings, including what experts believe to be new dormitories and production facilities, have been rapidly taking shape since the winter snow melted this year. Alabuga, which has been churning out Iranian-designed Shahed drones for almost three years, has now fully shifted from being an Iranian franchise to a fully localized production line. The expansion is happening so quickly that experts say the site’s end goal may be to mass-produce drones for global export. In December CNN reported that Alabuga had produced more than 5,700 Shahed drones between January and September 2024, over double the number it produced in the whole of 2023. The facility was aiming for 10,000 Gerbera decoy drones in 2024, according to Ukrainian defense intelligence sources.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/25/europe/russia-secretive-drone-factory-rapid-expansion-intlUkraine is also increasing drone production, but in much smaller quantities, which is difficult to explain given the crazy money provided to the Ukrainian authorities by the West and the absence of sanctions restrictions. We should also not forget about the different proportions of fuel and explosives in the mass of Ukrainian and russian drones. The distance for russian drones is much smaller, so they equip their drones with a large amount of explosives, while Ukrainian drones have to cover a distance several times greater and carry a much smaller explosive charge. Thus, even when Ukrainian drones hit something, they cause little damage. For example, in order to destroy the russian factory in Alabua, dozens of drones are needed to hit it simultaneously, which are not available.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s real deficit to cover all military and budget expenses, which must be covered by foreign aid, is about $90 billion annually in 2025-2026. In 2024, defense and security spending was about $95 billion, in 2025, it will most likely increase to $100-105 billion, and in 2026, according to the new Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal, the need may reach $120 billion.
Other state budget needs amount to about $42 billion, while through taxes, fees, dividends, and financing from the National Bank’s profits, Ukraine will be able to collect about $55 billion in 2025.
That is, we have a gap of about $142 billion minus $55 billion — this is much more than the figure for the financial deficit.
https://biz.nv.ua/ukr/finance/deficit-finansuvannya-ukrajini-krajini-ne-vistachatime-mayzhe-100-mlrd-dolariv-shchoroku-50532616.htmlPresident Volodymyr Zelensky’s anticorruption policies have already provoked Ukraine’s first antigovernment protests since the russian invasion in 2022. Now, it seems, they may cost the country a portion of its foreign aid from the European Union, in a clear rebuke from the bloc, once a staunch ally.
The European Union said on Friday that it would withhold 1.5 billion euros, or $1.7 billion, from an overall fund of 4.5 billion euros whose disbursement is dependent on achieving good governance standards and that can’t be used for military purchases. The decision is not final, however, and the funding can be restored if Ukraine meets certain benchmarks.
The E.U.’s decision capped a tumultuous week for Mr. Zelensky, who first pushed a measure through Parliament that stripped the independence of two anticorruption agencies, raising protests from foreign leaders as well as the Ukrainian people.
He then reversed course, submitting a new bill to Parliament to restore the agencies’ independence. That calmed the street protests, but could not head off the E.U.’s aid cut, which had already been decided on the basis of longstanding guidelines.
Critics in Ukraine have complained about the Zelensky government’s steady accretion of power under martial law, with investigations targeting journalists, activists and opposition politicians. His administration has sidelined elected mayors and governors in many regions in favor of military administrators.
Foreign allies are divided on those steps, with some saying they are needed to keep a firm hand on the country in wartime while others dismiss them as a raw power grab.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/26/world/europe/eu-ukraine-corruption-aid.htmlSunday evening and again the sounds of the air raid siren in Kyiv...
