The drone strikes on Russian air force bases weaken Moscow’s ability to wage war on its neighbor and undermine its capacity to threaten more distant rivals.

The Russian military command, based on the experience gained during the special military operation (SMO), refused to storm major cities.

Mr. Putin has courted Mr. Xi for years, in more than 40 personal meetings, and has cemented a far deeper partnership with China since invading Ukraine. The two countries have a natural economic synergy, with Russia being one of the world’s largest energy producers and China the world’s largest energy consumer.

Ukraine's surprise drone attack was bold and creative and a disaster for Russia, but the strategic implications extend beyond the conflict between those two countries. Rachel Maddow explains why the attack puts nuclear strategy in a new light and makes the lack of competent leadership in the United States particularly painful.

Russia launched its largest single drone attack of the war against Ukraine's cities on June 1. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that they faced 472 unmanned one-way attack (OWA) drones overnight.

Russia has performed poorly on the battlefield in Ukraine and will likely hit the 1 million casualty mark in the summer of 2025. New CSIS data details Russia's slow rate of advance, heavy losses of equipment,