Analysts have attributed Russia’s stalled progress on the battlefield to continued communications disarray linked to its loss of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite-based internet service. Photo / Getty Images
Analysts have attributed Russia’s stalled progress on the battlefield to continued communications disarray linked to its loss of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite-based internet service. Photo / Getty Images
Ukraine has killed a dozen Russian officers in a series of strikes on an FSB command post in the occupied Donetsk region, its top drone commander has claimed.
Eight high-precision drones crashed into a building housing special forces, killing 12 officers and wounding 15 more, Robert Brovdi said.
Video footagereleased by Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces, showed a number of first-person view drones being steered towards a high-rise building before huge explosions could be seen blowing out one of its floors and blasting debris across the surrounding area.
Brovdi said the strike had destroyed a command post and operational special unit belonging to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). He claimed that the unit had specialised in counter-intelligence, sabotage attacks and co-ordinating pro-Russian militants within the territory of Ukraine.
The latest blow to Russian command came as Moscow failed to make territorial gains in Ukraine for the first time in two-and-a-half years.
Its advance ground to a halt in March and, according to new data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russia has actually lost almost 60sq km of land in Ukraine since March 1.
In that time, Kyiv claims to have inflicted more than 55,000 Russian casualties, the vast majority using drones, as Vladimir Putin continues to funnel his forces en masse into the so-called “kill zone”, the no-man’s land patrolled by UAVs that stretches 1300km across the country.
Ukraine hailed its strongest frontline position in a year this week, which it put down to a superiority in drones and enhanced air defences.
“We are holding the line. Indeed, our battlefield position is the strongest or most solid it has been in the past year. Truly the strongest,” said Andriy Sybiha, the foreign minister.
Firefighters try to combat the fire and state emergency members rescue civilians after a massive Russian drone and missile assault on Dnipro, Ukraine. Photo / Getty Images
“We have minimised the Russians’ manpower advantage through drone use,” he added.
Ukraine’s war effort was strengthened further this week when the EU agreed to unblock a €90 billion ($112b) loan for Kyiv, held up by Hungary’s outgoing nationalist leader Viktor Orban.
Hungary lifted its months-long veto on the loan after Kyiv resumed pumping Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia, following repairs to damages that Ukraine said were caused by a Russian strike.
The loan will allow it to purchase much-needed weapons, prop up its war-ravaged economy and help keep Russian forces at bay, although Ukraine could still suffer a shortfall of some €19.6b needed for its defence in 2026, according to the Kyiv Independent citing a European Commission presentation.
Kyiv expects to receive the first tranche of the loan in late May or early June and will direct it towards producing Ukrainian weapons, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
In a sign of the Kremlin’s desperation, Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s most senior military officer, has made increasingly frequent appearances touting sweeping gains by Moscow’s forces.
He claimed earlier this week, contrary to the evidence, that Russia had captured 1700sq km of Ukrainian soil since January, an area larger than the size of Greater London.
But, according to independent estimates, Russia’s territorial gains in the first three months of 2026 were roughly half of those in the same period of 2025.
Russia’s failings linked to loss of Starlink
Analysts have attributed Russia’s stalled progress on the battlefield to continued communications disarray linked to its loss of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite-based internet service and the authorities’ decision to block the Telegram messaging app, which is used extensively for logistics and coordination at the front.
The Ukrainian army is also engaging in a tactical counter-offensive, which has successfully held back Russia’s progress at the junction of the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions.
The Ukrainian State Emergency Service reported that the overnight strike caused widespread destruction across residential and commercial areas. Photo / Getty Images
Kremlin officials are also said to be alarmed by Ukraine’s rapid drone progress. Russian military bloggers earlier this month claimed that Andrey Belousov, the Defence Minister, had alerted Putin to Ukraine’s newfound technological advantage at the front.
Ukraine has recently unveiled its new fixed-wing kamikaze drone known as the “Khmarynka”. With a maximum range of 50km, a maximum speed of 140km/h, 60-minute endurance and a payload of 7kg, it will be used to strike targets at tactical depth and is being described as Kyiv’s answer to the Russian “Molniya” drone.
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