Overview
- Business Insider, cited by German media, reports an industry-led 'drone wall' of AI-guided interceptor UAVs for Ukraine that a French firm describes as a flying drone minefield, though deployment claims remain unconfirmed.
- RAND analyst Ann Marie Dailey cautions that heavy investment in such barriers would misallocate resources and fail to deter Russia compared with strengthening broader offensive and conventional capabilities.
- The Institute for the Study of War attributes recent Russian advances near Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia to dense fog and months-long efforts to create local drone-denial zones that blunted Ukrainian UAVs.
- Public criticism inside Ukraine is growing over battlefield decisions and corruption, including scrutiny of Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi’s retreat timing and fresh revelations about the departure of ex–Zelensky associate Timur Mindich.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky is visiting Athens, Paris and Madrid to secure gas supplies and sign a French fighter-jet agreement, as Ukraine reports strikes on oil refineries in Ryazan and Samara and struggles to intercept mass Russian drone and missile attacks.