Russian Military Has Missed All 15 Putin Deadlines To Seize Donbas

The Russian military has missed every deadline Putin has imposed for taking Donbas - at least 15 of them. 

Russia controls less than 80% of Donbas oblast and given rates of advance and loss, may never achieve Putin's objective according to the Institute for the Study of War. JL

The Kyiv Post reports:

Vladimir Putin has given his military at least 15 deadlines to capture Donbas since the start of the invasion, but Russian forces have failed to meet them. The Kremlin’s military objectives “continue to remain detached from reality.” Russian forces captured only 0.8% of Ukraine’s territory in 2025. On some parts of the front, the Russian advance has slowed to as little as 15-70 meters (49-230 feet) per day, record-low rates in more than a century of modern warfare. The advance has slowed even further in 2026. At the current rate of advance, Russian forces are unlikely to capture the remaining parts of Donbas by the end of 2026 and may never achieve the objective

Ukraine Has Gained the Strategic Advantage Over Russia In Long Range Strikes

Russia's barbaric missile and drone attacks on civilian Ukrainian targets like apartment buildings and shopping malls have justifiably received much attention this summer. 

But the data reveal that Russia's long range attacks are plateauing and beginning to decline, while Ukraine's are increasing. And not only that, Ukraine is targeting Russian air defenses, missile and drone production and launch facilities, making them more strategically impactful. JL

David Axe reports in Trench Art:

For four years, Russia launched far more long-range missiles and drones than Ukraine launched back. In the summer of 2026, the balance flipped. The Ukrainians slowly and steadily developed better and cheaper long-range drones and cruise missiles while also striking at Russian factories in order to disrupt Russia’s own production of missiles and drones. At the same time, the Ukrainians degraded Russia’s air defenses in order to enable the escalating deep strikes on Russian soil. While Russian deep strikes dipped between May and June, Ukrainian deep strikes spiked. The Ukrainians launched 9,000 drones and missiles in May and exceeded that pace in June, finishing the month with 11,500 launches. That’s 2.5 times as many as in April. Ukrainian forces scored 1,150 hits on major targets in Russia and Russian-occupied territories in June. Nearly twice as hits as the Russians scored the same month.

Russia Usually Gains Ground In Summer. This Year They Have Lost It

Since the Russians invaded Ukraine in 2022, they have usually succeeded in capturing territory during the summer months. Not this year. 

In the past month, in particular, the Russians have lost ground to Ukrainian forces. And the Kremlin's troops have suffered those losses while enduring increasing casualties. Putin continues to waste resources without any evidence of strategic benefit. JL

Mick Ryan reports in Futura Doctrina:

Over the past month, Russian operations have not gained ground but lost it. The reporting of Deepstate and ISW, shows that Russia lost between 2 and 12 square miles in the period since 21 July this year. This occurs at a time of the year that has, in the past two years, been one of Russia’s most successful months for capturing Ukrainian territory. And, for four of the past five months, Russia has lost ground in Ukraine while suffering increasing monthly casualty figures. Russia's ground offensives continue to grind away, wasting enormous numbers of troops for very minimal gains

Surprise Russian Vyshneve Attack In Fog Wiped Out By Ukrainian Forces

Aside from the news that an entire attacking Russian unit was annihilated by infantry and drone operators working in tandem through dense fog, what is interesting about this action is the intel that the Russians felt compelled to attack despite long odds because they had recently lost ground to Ukraine. 

This reveals that Russian frontline commanders remain under intense pressure to take whatever territory they can for propaganda purposes and that they are expected to try to claw back lost ground immediately as the Kremlin attempts to counter the narrative that its forces are losing the ground war. JL

RFU News reports:

Thick morning fog along the Yanchur River reduced visibility to only a few meters for Ukrainian soldiers. Russian troops launched a surprise assault, but the Ukrainian battalion commander improvised and redirected a ground drone toward the defenders to function as a mobile reconnaissance platform. Because visibility near ground level was slightly better than from the air, the robot transmitted a live video feed back to the commander, who directed defenders in real time. Guided by these images, the Ukrainian soldiers engaged approaching Russians with precision. Guided from the command post, a hexacopter released its munition directly into a cluster of Russian troops, and when the smoke from the explosion settled, seven Russian soldiers were dead. As half an hour passed, the weather began to improve so Ukrainian FPV drones joined the fight. Russian infantry attempting to avoid accurate rifle fire from defenders found themselves forced into the open streets

Due To AI, New York Surpassed SF Bay Area In Tech Jobs For First Time

In a first for tech hiring in the past generation, New York has surpassed the Bay Area. This is due to demand for AI skills from the financial services industry in NYC as non-AI jobs have been cut in the Bay Area. 

The change may be anomalous and could swing again, but the new data supports the demonstrable interest in AI talent from industries besides tech, with New York as the US metropolitan area with companies in finance, communications, advertising, publishing, real estate and other white collar fields, as well as the money to pay for them. JL

Cris Tolomia reports in Quartz:

New York City has surpassed the San Francisco Bay Area as the largest tech talent market by headcount in the U.S., according to CBRE's 13th annual Scoring Tech Talent report. New York's 394,300 tech talent jobs surpassed San Francisco's 375,730 — a milestone that marks the first time New York has claimed the top position in the history of CBRE's analysis. The shift reflects two forces working in opposite directions: layoffs of non-AI tech workers in the Bay Area, and strong AI and finance-driven hiring in New York. "There've been cuts in the Bay Area, so the tech industry has contracted the size of the tech talent workforce, and the finance sector [in New York] has hired a lot of tech talent and a lot of AI workers."

Moscow Military Festival Cancelled For Fear of Ukrainian Drone Attacks

Another embarrassment for Putin as a military festival he commissioned almost 20 years ago is cancelled over fears of Ukrainian drone attacks - and Russia's inability to stop them. JL

Daria Zakharova reports in Politico:

A major military festival in Moscow has been canceled four days before it was due to start. The event, which began in 2007 at President Vladimir Putin’s orders, is one of Russia’s most prominent military-themed events, alongside the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow and the Navy Day show in St. Petersburg. The move comes amid an increase in Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian capital.

Ukraine Is Winning Escalating Space War With Russia

Ukraine is increasingly hitting Russia's aero and outer space production and storage assets as the Kremlin uses them for targeting Ukrainian cities. 

Kyiv's identification and striking of these targets has seriously damaged Russia's ability to use space as a military resource because the lead times for building these complicated and expensive facilities are so long. JL

Kevin Platt reports in Forbes:

Ukraine's bombing of a major Russian space rocket assembly center is the latest in a growing barrage of missile and drone strikes on the Kremlin’s aerospace labs. “While Russia is targeting purely civilian infrastructure and sites” across Ukraine, killing citizens and children in the process, “Ukraine is restricting its strikes to military or dual-purpose targets.” Ukraine’s attack on the Progress Rocket and Space Center, in western Russia, triggered a major setback for the Russian space program. The center produces the Soyuz rockets, for decades the main Russian boosters to launch space capsules destined for the International Space Station and imaging satellites that track U.S. defense worldwide and the movement of Moscow’s own tanks and missile brigades around occupied Ukraine.