Has Putin gone mad, ordering 600,000 troops to launch another assault on Kyiv?

But here’s the question: Is Kyiv in 2026 still the same Kyiv that nearly fell to a surprise attack in 2022? If Russian forces truly roll tanks toward Kyiv once again, what awaits them is unlikely to be the triumphant ‘capture of Kyiv in three days’—but rather history’s bloodiest, most brutal slugfest. Remember Russia’s 60-kilometer-long armored column in 2022? That steel river advanced from Belarus straight toward Kyiv. Ukraine’s armed forces were caught completely off guard and unprepared for battle—only the over 300 Javelin anti-tank missiles supplied by the U.S. under Trump’s administration prevented Russian tanks from overrunning Kyiv that year. But times have changed. For four full years, Ukraine has painstakingly fortified its northern border! That defensive zone is now studded with anti-tank mines, ‘dragon’s teeth’ obstacles, reinforced concrete bunkers, and trenches several meters deep. Ukrainian forces have even engineered a terrifying trap: In the Chernobyl region’s marshlands, they’ve carried out specialized hydraulic engineering works, transforming the area into an ideal network of waterlogged mudflats. Tanks—and even heavier Russian armored vehicles—will sink instantly if they stray from narrow main roads; and if they stick to those roads, they’ll face pre-surveyed Ukrainian heavy artillery barrages and swarms of attack drones. Should Russia dare deploy another elongated, snake-like convoy, Ukrainian ground troops won’t even need to engage directly: drone operators sitting safely dozens of kilometers away, inside control rooms, can turn that steel river into a ‘steel graveyard’—as easily as playing a video game. In 2022, Russian airborne troops also attempted to seize Hostomel (Antonov) Airport near Kyiv, aiming to establish an airbridge using aerial superiority. Today’s Kyiv, however, hosts the West’s most advanced air-defense systems—including U.S.-made Patriot batteries, German IRIS-T systems, plus countless ‘Falcon’ anti-aircraft guns and micro-drones for close-in defense. Any paratrooper would become little more than target practice. So, given the staggering cost and vanishingly slim odds of success in another Kyiv offensive, why would the Kremlin leak such intelligence at this moment? There are essentially two possibilities: First, it’s deliberate ‘psychological warfare’ by Russia. Russian forces are under mounting pressure on the front lines—especially after Ukrainian troops cut off and encircled Russian forces near Lyman. By leaking news of a planned 600,000-troop Kyiv offensive, the Kremlin aims to sow massive panic both within Ukraine and among Western allies—forcing Ukraine to redeploy elite units currently achieving major successes in Donbas, Zaporizhzhia, and Lyman back to defend Kyiv. Once those elite Ukrainian units withdraw, Russia’s crisis in Donbas would automatically ease. The second possibility is far more alarming: Putin may truly be resorting to a desperate, all-or-nothing gamble amid escalating domestic and international crises. As former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently stated: Putin is now trapped—Russia suffers roughly 30,000 casualties per month, while its economy and energy infrastructure teeter on collapse. He dares not halt the war: A ceasefire would leave him unable to explain to the Russian public why over a million lives were lost for such an outcome. Faced with this dead end, Putin might indeed go all-in—staking Russia’s last remaining national strength, and its final 600,000 troops, in one final, high-stakes gamble.

North Korean missile units have entered Russia to join combat; Russia’s largest oil refinery struck again.

These include the well-known KN-23 and KN-24 short-range ballistic missiles—also dubbed ‘Hwasong-11A’ and ‘Hwasong-11B’—whose capabilities closely resemble Russia’s Iskander missiles, with ranges between 400 and 800 kilometers and payloads of approximately one ton of high-explosive warhead. After signing a mutual defense treaty with Russia in 2024, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un had already supplied Russia with several million artillery shells and dispatched 14,000 North Korean soldiers. This time, Pyongyang has escalated beyond sending infantry—it has deployed an entire ‘ballistic missile unit’ directly to the front line. According to analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, intercepting ballistic missiles remains the Achilles’ heel of Ukraine’s air-defense network. By integrating these North Korean missiles, Russia seeks a rapid, short-term upgrade in its capacity for saturation strikes against Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. Though these North Korean missiles suffer from relatively poor accuracy and high failure rates, their sheer destructive power will inevitably cause massive civilian casualties. In fact, additional North Korean troops continue to be dispatched to Russia: newly leaked footage shows Russian forces training newly arrived North Korean soldiers—who are slated to fight Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region. In response to this upgraded Russia–North Korea military cooperation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a stern warning: ‘Any North Korean weapons systems or military units deployed on Russian soil to attack Ukraine will become legitimate targets for precise Ukrainian strikes.’ Zelenskyy also revealed that, during the night of August 4–5, Russian forces launched another large-scale missile and drone barrage against Kyiv and surrounding areas, killing at least 17 people. A notable development was Ukraine’s inability to intercept all incoming missiles—due to the complete exhaustion of its stockpile of anti-ballistic-missile interceptors. Following Russia’s large-scale aerial assault on Kyiv, Ukraine swiftly retaliated. On August 6, Ukrainian forces launched long-range drone strikes targeting a Russian oil refinery located over 1,300 kilometers behind the front line! They also struck the ‘Slavneft-Yaroslavl’ refinery—situated nearly 700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border—which ranks among Russia’s largest refining hubs in the Central Federal District, processing up to 15 million tons of crude oil annually and supplying gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel specifically for the Russian military. Remarkably, since early 2026, this largest Russian refinery has been precisely hit by Ukrainian drones at least ‘six times’—a record high since the start of the Russia–Ukraine war. Zelenskyy declared today: ‘Our long-range sanctions have again delivered results—cutting off Russia’s oil revenues! Meanwhile, our Black Sea counteroffensive has scored a major victory, successfully striking two Russian patrol vessels and illicit ‘shadow fleet’ oil tankers. Russia must understand: choosing peace is its only viable path forward!’ Do you recall the restaurant bombing in Moscow I mentioned in a previous article? On the evening of August 2, a top-tier Moscow restaurant was abuzz with celebration—senior Russian military officers gathered there to honor Air and Space Forces Commander General Sergei Cherkasov’s birthday—when an explosion rocked the restaurant entrance.

Drones Hit Russia’s Yanos Refinery as Ukraine Steps Up Strikes

21 hours ago

Ukraine launched 124 drone strikes damaging Russia’s Yanos oil refinery, causing fires and injuring two employees. The facility, with a 300,000-barrel daily capacity, supplies Moscow amid ongoing efforts to disrupt Russian energy revenues.

bloomberg

2026-11-02

Drones Hit Russia’s Yanos Refinery as Ukraine Steps Up Strikes

Drones Hit Russia’s Yanos Refinery as Ukraine Steps Up Strikes

FAQ