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Morning Headlines

CNN: The Kremlin has dramatically increased the personal security around Putin, installing surveillance systems in the homes of close staffers as part of new measures prompted by a wave of assassinations of top Russian military figures and fears of a coup, according to a report from a European intelligence agency obtained by CNN.

Reuters: Britain is set to enter talks to join the European Union's 78 billion ‌pound loan ($106 billion) to Ukraine, the government said on Sunday, in a further sign of deepening European defence ties under rising U.S. pressure.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces launched a drone attack on Moscow overnight on May 4, reportedly hitting a high-rise residential complex in the Russian capital, Russian Telegram media channels reported.

ISW: Russia’s additional revenues from rising oil prices are likely insufficient to fundamentally change the course of Russia’s growing economic issues.

03.05.2026

The Kyiv Independent: President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Yerevan on May 3 to attend a summit of the European Political Community. Zelensky held bilateral meeting with the prime ministers of the U.K., Norway, Finland, and the Czech Republic. According to the president's spokesperson, bilateral meetings will continue on May 4.

NV: Russian forces are starving and demoralizing their own troops on the Lyman front in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said on May 3, citing intercepted communications from Russia’s 169th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade of the 25th Army.

The Kyiv Independent: Russian forces launched a series of attacks on Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts, killing at least one person and injuring 34, regional officials said.

Ukrainska Pravda: Russian forces attacked port infrastructure facilities and a residential area in Odesa Oblast with loitering munitions on the night of 2-3 May. Two civilians were killed in the attack.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces targeted a Russian Karakurt-class missile ship, a patrol boat, and a shadow fleet tanker in the port of Primorsk in Leningrad Oblast, acting head of Ukraine's Security Service Yevhen Khmara told the president on May 3.

Reuters: The Swedish Coast Guard said on Sunday it had seized a tanker in the Baltic Sea ​believed to be part of Russia's shadow fleet, the ‌latest in a string of similar actions carried out in recent months by the country's authorities.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces attacked two Russian shadow fleet vessels near the entrance to the port in the Russian city of Novorossiysk in the Black Sea, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 3.

ISW: Russian forces in April 2026 suffered a net loss of territory controlled in the Ukrainian theater for the first time since Ukraine’s August 2024 incursion into Kursk Oblast.

02.05.2026

The Kyiv Independent: Peru's Specialized Prosecutor's Offices for Human Trafficking Crimes have launched an investigation after receiving complaints that Peruvian citizens were deceptively recruited into fighting Russia's war against Ukraine.

RFE/RL: The EU is preparing more sanctions on people and entities in Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine that the bloc deems responsible for the illegal deportation and so-called “reeducation efforts” of Ukrainian children.

Reuters: A planned drawdown of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany should spur Europe to strengthen its own defences, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday, but two top U.S. Republican lawmakers ​expressed concern, saying the troops should not leave Europe.

Euractiv: Kyiv wants a say in how the sea drones it is set to co-produce with Greece would be used in the event of military engagement, a demand that has reportedly prompted concern in Athens, according to local media.

Reuters: Russian troops are inching towards the city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, trying to establish a foothold close to a heavily defended area, Ukraine's top army official said on Saturday.

The Kyiv Independent: At least two people were killed and eight others were injured after Russian troops launched two separate drones attacks on buses in Kherson on May 2.

Reuters: Washington has warned European allies ‌including the UK, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia to expect long delivery delays for ⁠U.S. weapons as the war against Iran drains stockpiles, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

01.05.2026

AFP: Mali’s army and its Russian mercenary allies surrendered a strategic northern military stronghold to armed rebels on Friday, as Tuareg separatists and jihadists waged a unified front to bring down the country’s junta.

The Moscow Times: Russian economic growth could slow far more sharply than the Kremlin expects this year as Ukrainian drone attacks on oil infrastructure disrupt exports and force production cuts, the Kremlin-linked Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting has said.

ERR: The Estonian government supported a bill that would permit NATO allies' forces stationed in the country to participate in countering hybrid threats.

The Moscow Times: Russia fired a record number of long-range attack drones at Ukraine in April, AFP analysis of data published by Kyiv's air force showed.

United24 Media: Ukraine’s Armed Forces have struck advanced Russian military aircraft at a base deep inside Russian territory, according to a statement from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on May 1.

The Moscow Times: Russia’s dependence on China for sanctioned technology imports has risen to 90%, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with official statistics.

The Kyiv Independent: Russia has lost at least $7 billion since the start of 2026 due to Ukrainian strikes on its oil infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 1.

Reuters: Ukraine announced plans on ​Friday to carry out reforms of the army this summer to address problems with infantry shortages and the ‌discharge of the longest-serving soldiers, four years into a grinding war with Russia in which talks have stalled.

Reuters: Russia has emerged as the main supplier of oil to Syria, Reuters reporting shows, despite the new government's alignment with the West and widespread distrust of Moscow over its military support for fallen leader Bashar al-Assad.

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