Russo-Ukrainian war, day 1565: Russia strikes Chornobyl nuclear site — Ukraine hits Crimea fuel supply

Exclusives

Ukraine’s drones got bigger warheads. A Russian corvette in the Baltic just found out.. The Fire Point FP-1 that struck Boikiy at Kronstadt on 3 June crossed 1,100 km to get there — and arrived with a heavier warhead than the model that started Ukraine's deep-strike campaign.

“It was never formulated as Ukraine winning”—NATO’s ex-military chief on the missing strategy. It was also not formulated, "We're doing this so that Russia can lose this war." So the formulation became, "We're going to support Ukraine for as long as it takes," Admiral Bauer tells EP

EU urgency to dump Rosatom is growing but Russia will use every lever to prevent it. This is part three of a series of three articles exploring Rosatom, its role in the war in Ukraine, and Moscow’s international influence.

Russia more than doubles production of converted SAMs to make ballistic missile strikes even harder to defend. Missiles add few qualitative improvements but do add mass to Russia's terror attacks

Military

Over 2,000 Russian casualties in first six days of June, Madyar reports amid surge in drone strikes on occupied territories Madyar reported strikes on 26 targets across occupied Ukraine and Russia's Bryansk Oblast, including rail, energy, fuel, and telecom infrastructure.

Ukrainian Special Forces target Crimea fuel system, hitting depot and maritime terminal in "asymmetric" middle-strike operation on occupied territory Ukrainian officials say the operation is part of efforts to disrupt logistics networks supporting Russian forces in occupied territory.

"Extremely rare" 300-ton Russian rail recovery crane destroyed in partisan sabotage operation, ATESH claims ATESH claims the loss will slow down repair capacity at major junctions, where rapid recovery is critical for maintaining rail flow.

Russia reportedly restricts bus and private car movement on main arteries through occupied territories, capping two weeks of land-corridor breakdown The stated reason is protection against Ukrainian "attacks on civilian transport." The actual reason is visible in the two-week sequence of events that produced the closures.

Flat steppe: Ukraine is strangling Crimea's supply lines from air. Melitopol-Chonhar road is latest target The operation extends the squeeze on Russia's land corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula.

Kronstadt, Russia's major naval base after Black Sea Fleet losses, gets hit by Ukrainian drones (VIDEO) Russia was in the middle of hosting foreign investors.

Ukraine doubles deep strikes beyond 50 km as "Logistics Lockdown" shifts priority deeper into Russia's transport nodes and rear logistics chains Kyiv says the shift is part of a wider effort to disrupt supply chains and degrade Russia's ability to sustain frontline operations.

Ukraine's drones hit 5 vessels in occupied Azov ports overnight — Azerbaijan says 5 of its nationals died as Russia blames Kyiv Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert "Madyar" Brovdi called the boats smugglers carrying looted grain, fuel, and military supplies with names painted over and radars off.

The Crimean Bridge is heavily guarded. Ukraine struck its maritime security layer in the Kerch Strait. Ukrainian officials say the ship was deployed to patrol and monitor approaches to the Crimean Bridge as part of Russia's layered security network in occupied Crimea.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine has built 822 kilometers of anti-drone road tunnels. Each kilometer means safer evacuations and faster supply In May alone, the State Special Transport Service rebuilt 115.5 km of conventional road, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said.

Ukraine's Bullet interceptor gets speed upgrade. It now has chemical accelerator to chase down Russian 500 km/h Geran-4 The accelerator burns chemical fuel rather than using jet propulsion.

Ukraine ranks its drone units on how deep they see. The 413th has been at top for three months The Unmanned Systems Forces unit held first place in March and April 2026, and second in May, in Ukraine's Delta battlefield-awareness system rankings.

International

Russia is already causing harm to UK. Britain may not be prepared for what comes next, says former top general Lord Peach, the former UK Chief of the Defence Staff said the hybrid war is already happening.

US warned Russia it would "be very, very sorry" over 2022 nuclear use, NATO ex-military chief confirms Russian forces in Ukraine would be "taken out conventionally" by the Americans, the Kremlin was warned amid Kherson retreat, Admiral Bauer says.

"Ukraine might have won" if NATO had acted in 2022, ex-top chief says Admiral Rob Bauer says the West armed Ukraine too slowly to win — and never had a strategy for victory at all.

German defense firm has made Ukraine its second-largest international base Germany's Quantum Systems is building drones, ground robots, and software.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russian drone strikes nuclear fuel storage site in Chornobyl zone A drone attack damaged a key building at Ukraine's centralized spent fuel storage facility, triggering a fire that emergency teams later extinguished.

"The worst environmental catastrophe since Chornobyl disaster": Three years after Russia destroyed Kakhovka Dam, real death toll is still unknown On 6 June 2023, Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant while occupying the dam, flooding 80 settlements, forcing nearly 4,000 people to evacuate, and killing at least 34.

Russian pilot saw man in Ukraine's Kramatorsk and chose to kill him. FPV drones are operated in real time The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has formally classified these strikes as crimes against humanity.

"An unwavering priority": 186 Ukrainians return home in major prisoner swap with Russia Several of the freed Ukrainians were detained in 2022, with some taken during the battles for Mariupol and Azovstal.

Political and legal developments

What do Ukrainian drone makers have to accept to win Pentagon contracts? Experts document "draconian conditions" Below 50% foreign ownership triggers a Security Control Agreement under which the company must be led by a US citizen.

A ship linked to stolen grain from occupied Ukraine was seized in Sweden. A court says Kyiv can have it. The vessel was detained in March and is suspected of helping move grain from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

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