Dear Reader, if you find this email interesting, helpful or of value, please do consider forwarding it to your friends or colleagues and encouraging them to subscribe. Thank you.
Morning Headlines
The Kyiv Independent: Three people, including a child, were killed and another 10 were injured in a Russian attack on Odesa overnight on April 6.
Politico: Ukraine has scored an important legal victory in its campaign to stop Moscow using sports events to whitewash its war crimes — winning a landmark case to prevent Russia from holding chess tournaments in occupied territories.
The Kyiv Independent: Explosions were reported overnight on April 6 in the southern Russian port city of Novorossiysk, with local residents reporting a drone attack at an oil terminal and damage to a residential building.
ISW: The limitations of available Russian air defenses and the challenges inherent in protecting large infrastructure facilities across thousands of kilometers of distance are hindering the Kremlin’s efforts to defend against Ukrainian long-range strikes.
05.04.2026
Reuters: Hungarian PM Orban called an emergency defence council meeting on Sunday after powerful explosives were found near a pipeline in Serbia that carries Russian gas to the country. A former Hungarian intelligence official told Reuters there had been discussions in Hungarian security circles over the past days about a precise plan for a "false-flag" operation impacting the pipeline in Serbia as part of an effort to influence the Hungarian vote.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia provided Iran with satellite intelligence on over 50 Israeli energy sites, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 5, the latest of a series of Ukrainian claims that Russia is supporting Tehran militarily.
Reuters: Ukraine and Syria pledged greater security cooperation in talks on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said as Kyiv seeks to promote its military expertise across the region following the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Zelenskiy, continuing his tour of Middle East countries, met with his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus.
Ukrinform: Ukraine’s Defense Forces have regained control of 12 settlements as part of their operation on the Oleksandrivka axis, including eight in the Dnipropetrovsk region and four in the Zaporizhzhia region, Syrskyi reported.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian drones struck a Lukoil oil refinery in the Russian city of Kstovo and an oil terminal in Leningrad Oblast overnight on April 5.
AP News: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed concern that a prolonged U.S.-Israeli war on Iran could further erode America’s support for Ukraine as Washington’s global priorities shift and Kyiv braces for reduced deliveries of critically needed Patriot air defense missiles.
04.04.2026
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's foreign allies have asked Kyiv to pause its drone attacks on Russian oil refineries as the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran drives up fuel prices worldwide, Presidential Office Head Kyrylo Budanov told Bloomberg in an interview published April 4.
Reuters: U.S. "envoys" Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner could travel to Kyiv in April, the Ukrainian president's top aide Kyrylo Budanov said on Saturday, amid efforts to revive peace talks with Russia which stalled after the outbreak of war in the Gulf.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces struck the Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant in Russian-occupied Luhansk Oblast for the second time in one month, halting production at the site, the Security Service of Ukraine reported on April 4. The plant is a key industrial facility supporting Russian military production. It was last hit by Ukrainian forces in a reported strike on March 20.
Reuters: The European Union should end sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports, take steps to restore Druzhba oil pipeline flows and end the war in Ukraine to tackle the energy crisis stemming from the war in Iran, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday.
The Kyiv Independent: In March, Russia dropped the largest number of aerial guided bombs (or glide bombs) on Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reported on April 3.
Reuters: Five people were killed and 19 others wounded by a Russian drone strike on a market in the frontline Ukrainian city of Nikopol on Saturday morning, Ukraine's prosecutor general's office said.
UNN: The Ukrainian Armed Forces' Unmanned Systems Forces struck a Russian S-400 radar in Crimea and other occupation targets, including two Shahed hubs in the Kursk and Bryansk regions, and also "visited" Tolyatti, said Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Unmanned Systems Forces.
The Guardian: Land robots now account for 90% of Ukrainian army logistics. “It’s very difficult to move around because of enemy first-person-view drones. So we use robotic systems,” said Pavlov, a lieutenant with Ukraine’s 3rd army corps. In January, Ukraine’s armed forces carried out a record 7,000 operations using ground vehicles.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces reportedly struck defense and chemical industry facilities in the Russian cities of Taganrog and Tolyatti overnight on April 4, according to Russian Telegram channels.
ISW: Ukraine continues to generate leverage against Russia by accomplishing tactical, operational, and strategic battlespace effects.
03.04.2026
The Kyiv Independent: Russia carried out on airstrike on the city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast on April 3, killing four civilians and injuring four others, regional authorities reported. One of the victims killed in the attack was a 16-year-old boy.
Euronews obtained a copy of one of the documented episodes of Russia's systemic abduction and forceful deportation of Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories.
Reuters: Russia's Baltic oil export hubs at Ust-Luga and Primorsk remain unable to handle shipments after a series of Ukrainian drone attacks, prompting the country's refineries to find alternative routes for export.
Ukrainska Pravda: Egypt will no longer accept grain exported by Moscow from temporarily Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said following a conversation with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Meduza: Ukraine has a military presence in Libya and was behind the attack on the Russian tanker Arctic Metagaz in the Mediterranean in early March, the French broadcaster RFI reported. More than 200 Ukrainian officers and specialists are stationed in western Libya with the consent of the Tripoli government led by Abdulhamid Dbeibah.
RFI: Russian-linked consultants worked to strengthen and widen a pro-Moscow alliance in the Sahel region, using media campaigns, political pressure and cultural events to influence governments and public opinion.
AFP, Yahoo News: Russian strikes killed 14 people in Ukraine on Friday, officials said, as Moscow launched the latest in an increasing number of daytime barrages.
Reuters: The United States on Friday removed sanctions against Mikhail Zadornov, a prominent Russian banker and former finance minister, according to the U.S. Treasury Department website.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian drones struck several facilities inside Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine on April 1–2, including an oil refinery in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Ukraine's General Staff confirmed on April 3.
Reuters: Leading Russian state oil and gas companies Rosneft and Gazprom supported wartime camps where more than 2,000 Ukrainian children were taken, facilitating transportation and providing funds, Yale University research has alleged, prompting calls from some U.S. lawmakers to reinstate sanctions on the two firms.
Russa-Ukraine Daily Briefing is sent 5 days a week. Do you think your friend or colleague should know about this newsletter? Forward it to them, please. They can also sign up here.
Please consider supporting my work
