XI Reportedly Told Trump Last Week "Putin May Regret Ukraine Invasion"

That statement alone is worthy of note, given that China is Russia's most important ally and Xi has, so far, been generally supportive of Putin.

But what makes the leak especially intriguing is that it appears to have emanated from the Chinese leadership, not from sources in the US. And it comes just as Putin is arriving for talks in Beijing, with some saying he has been summoned, underscoring the disparity in relative strength between the two nations. This suggests that Xi may be coming to the conclusion that Russia is no longer capable of winning and may even be losing, which would make China look bad. He may, then, pressure Putin to begin to wind the war down before further damage is done to Russia and to the reputation of its allies. JL

Maira Butt reports in The Independent:

Xi Jinping told Donald Trump that Vladimir Putin could regret invading Ukraine, as the Russian leader prepared to meet his Chinese counterpart for talks in Beijing. Xi is reported to have made the remarks during talks between the US and Chinese delegations in Beijing last week. The alleged comment suggests a tension between the two allies. Ukraine is gaining ground due to its drone warfare strategy, combined with growing fatigue in the Russian military and domestic pressure on Putin, who has faced a drop in popularity according to opinion polls, with ordinary Russians facing internet disruption and a sluggish economy. With Ukraine increasing its long-range drone strikes, it has become increasingly difficult for the Kremlin to claim the war does not affect the daily lives of Russian citizens. 

For 1st Time, Ukraine's Long Range Drone Attacks Outnumber Russia's

Ukraine's long range drone attacks against targets inside Russia now outnumber such Russian attacks against Ukraine. The implication is that, in addition to Ukrainian success against Russian forces on the battlefield and on the sea, Kyiv's forces are surpassing the Russians in the air. 

The strategic reality is that no place inside Russia within 2,000 kilometers of the Ukrainian border - including Moscow and St Petersburg - is safe from Ukrainian drones. And of equal import, Ukraine's increasing domination of the middle strike territory - 20 to 300 kilometers behind the front - means that Russian access to Crimea and other occupied territory in the south is now vulnerable. JL

Mick Ryan reports in Futura Doctrina:

Ukraine's strategic strike campaign against Russian territory has now surpassed Russia’s long-range strike effort. Ukraine launched 7,000 long-range drones against Russian military targets in March 2026 alone, overtaking Russia in volume for the first time. The Russian air alert system issued warnings 2,000 kilometres from Ukraine on 5 May, illustrating the reach of Ukrainian drones. Ukraine has targeted oil refineries, naval vessels, military airfields and logistics nodes. Russian aviation has been forced to relocate thousands of kilometres east. Ukrainian drones recently struck Shagol airfield in the Chelyabinsk region, 1,700 kilometres from the front line. (And) Ukraine's ‘middle strike’ activities (20-300km from the front) might cut off Russian land access to Crimea, as Ukrainian forces have now established drone primacy over some southern Russian lines of communication, including the route from Mariupol to Crimea.

How Ukraine's Ground Robots Have Stopped Russians At Kostiantynivka

Ukrainian forces defending Kostiantynivka and other positions in Donbas are being supported by an army of ground drones (UGVs) that carried out 10,300 logistics and other missions last month alone. The UGVs can deliver hundreds of kilos of supplies (vs tens of kilos for aerial drones) while also capable of defending positions and attacking Russian troops. 

Warfighting will always require some humans, but the Ukrainians are demonstrating that they can reduce casualties without sacrificing military capabilities. JL

Euromaidan Press reports:

The the Ukrainian 1st Azov Corps and adjacent units have dug in in Konstyantynivka, and aren't inclined to give up . And they have help from a legion of ground robots that keep garrison in Kostiantynivka supplied with food, fuel and ammunition. The roads into Kostiantynivka are too dangerous for routine travel by human beings, so the unmanned ground vehicles—some of the 25,000 UGVs Ukrainian industry expects to produce this year—have taken over. The Ukrainians performed 10,300 resupply and evacuation missions by UGVs in April, a fourfold increase in unmanned ground logistics ops compared to six months ago. A garrison resupplied by machines can hold out much longer than one resupplied by human beings whose deaths impose much greater stress on the overall force. And who are more expensive to recruit, train, deploy and support than any UGV. 

Why AI Isn't Eliminating Lawyers, It Is Creating More Of Them

Um, so about those predictions that AI is going to wipe out lawyers...

The reality is that the legal profession just recorded the highest employment rate for lawyers, EVER. And demand is projected to grow. The reason is pretty simple: remember all those chest-thumping, tech-driven imperatives to embrace change? Well, it turns out that change is really, really good for lawyers. Because what they specialize in is ambiguity in contracts, other documents and the disputes they inevitably create. And nothing is promoting change these days like AI. So the demand for lawyers to help adjudicate who created what, who owns what, who benefits from or is being screwed by what has never been greater (see Elon Musk vs Sam Altman and OpenAI). Which is why demand for lawyers has never been greater - and why Gen Z - who are the first native AI generation - are driving law school applications up 40%. JL

Damien Charlotin comments in the Washington Post:

Amid AI hype and warnings of catastrophy, lawyers have never been more numerous, with law school applications jumping 40% as last year saw the highest employment rate for law graduates ever recorded. The replacement story rests on (errors) about what lawyers do: since AI can read documents, apply rules and produce text, lawyers are doomed. Yet the reason lawyers exist (and charge high prices) is that law is often ambiguous. Every step involves difficult choices, and which is right for a client in a given moment is a question of judgment, which has not become cheaper. Disruption is, historically, excellent for the lawyers. The response to economic dislocation is rarely quiet acceptance. Someone has to manage the lawsuits, litigate liabilities and lobby for new rules all of which are billable events. More rules mean more disputes, more advice, more filings and more lawyers. By 2035, there will be more of them, who will use AI and will charge you for the privilege.

Ukraine Special Forces Eliminate 300 Russians In Zaporizhzhia Attacks

In combined mechanized, drone and infantry assaults, Ukrainian forces completed the second phase of their counterattack in Zaporizhzhia oblast near Stepnohirsk.

In the first phase, last week, Ukrainian drone and artillery fire was so intense that Russian soldiers were reportedly able to survive for only 12 minutes once deployed. Now, Ukraine has set the stage for further advances against the degraded Russian units in the area. JL

RFU News reports:

In the Zaporizhzhia sector, Ukrainian military intelligence special forces dismantled Russian infiltration groups, eliminating more than three hundred Russian soldiers through coordinated drone strikes, trench-clearing assaults, and close-quarters combat, stopping the enemy offensive. Ukrainian forces are now entering the second phase of a carefully planned operation aimed at stopping the Russian riverbank advance toward Zaporizhia and to prevent the Russians from expanding further north. Ukraine is now reversing the momentum and steadily pushing Russian forces back

As Putin Sticks With Formula That Failed For 4 Years, Ukraine Imposes Inflection Point

This is one of a number of articles available this morning that note an inflection point in the war. One calls it Putin's "Marianas Moment," referring to the WWII naval battle in the Pacific, nicknamed "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" by US pilots because of the ease with which they shot up Japanese planes and ships, signaling the beginning of the end of Japan as a military threat. 

As Ukrainian drones and missiles pummel Russian troops at the front and Russian economic and military targets all over Russia from the Urals west without absolute freedom absent effective Russian air defenses, it is beginning to feel that the Kremlin has lost its ability to dictate the framing of the war. Strategic decision-making is increasingly controlled by Kyiv. The major trends reveal a weakened Russia and a dominant Ukraine. The humiliating 45 minute faux-parade in Red Square was merely the exclamation point suggesting the changes in fortune. JL

Lawrence Freedman comments in Comment Is Freed:

Over the past few weeks there has been a definite shift in the narrative surrounding the Russo-Ukraine War. This is the result of problems with the Russian economy, irritation with restrictions on everyday life, Ukraine’s success with long-range drones, and a sense that a war supposed to be over quickly four years ago still has no obvious end in sight. It was hard not to miss the symbolism of the truncated 9 May parade. This year’s demonstrated a lack of military confidence and a paranoid Vladimir Putin. Ukraine’s Zelenskyy took delight in giving him permission for the event to take place without disruption. Putin is sticking with the same formula that has not worked for over four years. (But) overall, it feels like an inflection point in the war.

Russia Lost Ground In Ukraine For 2nd Month In Row, As Kyiv's Forces Dominate

There are trends emerging as spring begins to turn to summer in this war. For the second month in a row, Russia has lost net ground to Ukrainian forces. For the fourth month in a row, Ukraine has killed or disabled more troops than the Kremlin can recruit. And at the end of the fourth month of this year, Russia has met only 16% of its recruitment goals. 

These data signal that Russia is no longer able to put together the forces necessary to launch an offensive, let alone achieve any significant gains. Ukraine's tactics on the battlefield and its strategic bombing of Russian industry are having a demonstrably deleterious effect. And Putin's increased terror bombing of Ukrainian civilian targets suggests that Kremlin frustration with the failing war is resulting in a kind of impotent lashing out because it is the only response they can manage. JL

David Axe reports in Trench Art:

Something has changed. Russian troops fell back for the second month in a row in April, giving up an 46 square kilometers after giving up 13 square kilometers in March. "The Russian offensive has been postponed, if there will be one at all." Escalating Ukrainian drone strikes are killing more Russians than Kremlin recruits, intensifying the strain on a force struggling to sustain an offensive despite heavy losses. Replacing those requires the Russians to maintain a strategic reserve of 20,000 troops just behind the front line, which they have been unable to do. Attacking in one area by pulling troops from another weakens Russian positions, inviting Ukrainian counterattacks, seen earlier this year as Ukraine gained ground in the southeast as the Russians shifted to press their Pokrovsk offensive. After the first four months of 2026, Russia has only met 16% of its recruitment quota for the year."