Moscow faced one of the largest drone attacks since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, with Russian air defenses reportedly intercepting and destroying between 10-45 Ukrainian drones.

Russia accused Ukraine of previous drone attacks on the Kremlin and government buildings.

Ukraine has been targeting oil refineries, airfields, and the capital in Russia with drones, and has made significant advances into the Kursk region, altering the dynamic of the conflict.

Ukraine has not yet commented on the attack.

Russia's state telecommunications monitoring service reported mass disruption of Telegram and WhatsApp.

Ukraine claims to control 1,263 square km of Kursk territory, including 93 settlements.

Ukraine's armed forces also claimed to have destroyed a significant number of attack drones launched by Russia, including through electronic warfare.

Ukraine continues to lose ground in its eastern industrial region of Donbas, but its counterattack in Kursk has made additional advances.

Sources: Axios, New York Times, Newsweek, Sky News, Bloomberg, AP News, CBS News, CNBC, NBC News, Independent, ABC News, Fox News, SCMP, The Sun, Al Jazeera, CBC, Hurriyet Daily News, Yahoo News.

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Russia is developing a network of "barrage" balloons, called the "Barrier" protection system, inspired by tactics used in World Wars I and II, to defend against Ukrainian drone strikes on its territory.

The balloons can rise up to 300 meters and drop a 250-meter net or use a "vacuum gun" to shoot nets at oncoming drones.

Barrage balloons played a crucial role in Britain's defenses during World War II, forcing enemy aircraft to fly at higher altitudes and posing a risk to those attempting to fly through their anchoring cables, successfully defending against bomber aircraft and protecting urban centers and important locations.

Germany's "sausage" balloon, or Drachenballon (kite balloon), was heavily deployed during World War I for intelligence gathering and artillery spotting due to its unique wind-facing shape. It went into mass production and was sold to several countries for military observation.

Long-range Ukrainian drone strikes have been causing damage to energy infrastructure and other key targets deep inside Russia, prompting the need for improved defenses against low-flying drones targeting sensitive locations.

A Russian aerospace company, First Airship, has developed and tested a prototype of these defense balloons.

Historically, "barrage" balloons were extensively used in World War I to defend against enemy planes, and in World War II to create defenses against bombers and flying bombs, including during the Normandy landings in 1944.

The barrage balloons can be equipped with radar, electronic jammers, video cameras for surveillance within a range of up to 7 miles.

The balloon barrier system is expected to be more cost-effective than traditional air defense systems.

Sources: Business Insider, ABC News, Kyiv Independent, Aussiedlerbote, Southwest Review News, The Telegraph, Military Інформатор (MIL.IN.UA)

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Faced with a critical shortage of infantry on the front lines, Ukraine has adopted a controversial tactic: releasing convicted felons, including those jailed for serious crimes like drug dealing, armed assaults, and even murder, to enlist them in high-risk assault brigades, according to The Washington Post. Over 2,750 men have been released from Ukrainian prisons since the parliament approved a law in May authorizing certain convicts to join the military.

These former prisoners, seeking revenge against Russia or personal redemption, are trading their prison jumpsuits for Ukrainian army uniforms and deploying to the most dangerous combat zones. Senya Shcherbyna, 24, serving six years for drug dealing, expressed hope that this opportunity would allow him to "redeem myself and seem more useful to my society." However, Serhii Lytvynenko, who has served 11 years of a 14-year sentence for deadly assault, voiced concerns about potential mistreatment, saying, "We don't know right now if they're going to take you and just throw you in like meat."

The recruitment of criminals is a sign of Kyiv's struggle to replenish its forces, which have been depleted and exhausted after more than two years of virtually nonstop fighting against Russia's invasion. While Ukraine has approved a new mobilization law aimed at widening the draft pool, it has yet to yield enough new troops. As a result, the Ukrainian general staff is seeking able-bodied fighters wherever possible, including reassigning soldiers from rear positions to combat roles and recruiting from prisons.

Under the new law, the released convicts can be assigned only to assault brigades, which engage in face-to-face combat with Russian troops, reflecting Ukraine's urgent need for front-line infantry. Justice Minister Denys Maliuska, as quoted by The Washington Post, stated, "The motivation of our inmates is stronger than our ordinary soldiers. Their release is only one part of the motive. They want to protect their country and they want to turn the page."

The Post interviewed several newly released prisoners who have joined the military. Dmytro, 28, was sentenced to 4 and a half years for stealing a phone but lost his wife and two children in a Russian airstrike. Avenging their deaths motivates him to fight. Edward, 35, who was convicted of armed assault, said he had dreamed of joining the military as a young boy but fell into crime due to poverty.

While some commanders are eager to have the convicts in their ranks, others are skeptical, fearing potential disciplinary issues or desertion. One anonymous military official expressed concerns about disorder on the front line but acknowledged the need for manpower, stating, "No one has trust in this, but we need it."

Ukrainian officials insist the program is constitutional, ethical, and practical during wartime, given the thousands of fighting-age men sitting in prisons instead of filling crucial roles on the front. Unlike in Russia, where the recruitment of criminals was pioneered by the Wagner mercenary group, Ukraine's convicts will be recruited into the official military and receive the same benefits as regular soldiers.

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Ukrainian forces withdrew from Avdiivka over the past weekend. This retreat from the decimated town in Donetsk captures the set of problems that Kyiv is facing as it enters the third year of the war.

The defenders suffered from a numerical disadvantage against the Russians, who did not spare cannon fodder; Ukraine's fighters also had to economize the dwindling ammunition; and for the first time since the start of the war, they could not prevent Russian planes from providing air cover for the attackers. Eventually, the Ukrainians withdrew from what was left of the town so that they could redeploy in new defensive positions. As of this week, the Russians are trying to break through defenses in two other sectors, though not very successfully.

"Ukraine's main goal this year will be to prevent the expansion of the occupation, and to inflict maximum casualties on the Russian army," Yury Fedorov, a Prague-based Russian military expert and the author of "The Ukrainian Front in World War III", told Israel Hayom. "It seems that Putin has ordered the completion of the conquest of the Donetsk Oblast. This will be an extremely difficult task, as they will need to take control of two well-fortified cities in the region. From Kyiv's perspective, the most rational strategy will be to defend the existing situation, while simultaneously stockpiling weapons and training forces for a counteroffensive in 2025."

Video: An unmanned sea drone / Ukrainian Armed Forces

However, none of these missions are self-evident for the Ukrainians, and there are at least three factors that could dramatically affect the coming year from Ukraine's perspective. The first is the issue of conscription. On paper, there are 11.1 million men eligible for conscription in the country – only a third of Russia's available manpower – with 11% of them already in uniform. Of the remaining men, 3 million live in occupied territories, about 1 million are abroad, and another 1.5 million have various disabilities.

In addition, the Ukrainian government faces an agonizing dilemma: Every able-bodied man conscripted means a loss of working hands for the economy, which has been struggling due to the burden of the war. Legislation that would change the criteria for exemption and bring additional groups into the conscription range has become a hot political issue in the country.

(Not) waiting for Uncle Sam

The second difficulty is the supply of weapons from Western allies. It's not just about artillery shells, but also air defense interceptors, which are already in short supply. The United States, the largest arms supplier, used up the special budget in December, and since then, Republican lawmakers have been blocking the aid package intended mostly for Ukraine ($60 billion) and Israel ($14 billion), even though in practice the funding would be mostly used in the United States for production purposes.

Meanwhile, European allies are still unable to fill America's shoes. "Europe will have to at least double its current military support efforts in case there is no further support from the United States. " Prof. Dr. Christoph Trebesch, who heads the International Finance and Macroeconomics research center at the Kiel Institute and runs its Ukraine Support Tracker, said earlier this month. "This is a challenge, but ultimately a question of political will. "

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Nevertheless, positive developments have taken place over the past two months: Britain, Germany, and France have committed to providing an additional €13 billion in military aid this year, and have signed bilateral agreements with Ukraine on defense and security cooperation; the Czech Republic has identified 800,000 shells in warehouses around the world and is seeking funding to purchase them for Kyiv; and Denmark is handing over its entire artillery disposition to Ukraine.

Waiting for the F-16s

What's more, by June, up to 48 F-16 fighter jets are expected to arrive in Ukraine – although Fedorov warns against harboring sky-high expectations. According to Fedorov, "to change the dynamics of the war, planes alone will not suffice; this would require a concurrent supply of air-to-air missiles, armored vehicles, anti-aircraft systems, and other weaponry."

The third factor is the pace of development of Ukraine's own defense industries. This past autumn, contracts were signed with arms manufacturers to set up production lines in Ukraine. Likewise, shell production was ramped up, and drone production is expected to reach one million this year – 100 times the amount produced in the first year of the war. A special corps is being set up to operate them. There is also the sea drone disposition. In this field – at least as of the beginning of the year – Ukraine has a clear advantage.

Ukraine enters the third year of war with a new commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, who also brought a new team with him. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the previous commander, the highly decorated and popular General Valery Zaluzhny, who believed that the war had reached an impasse – a message that had run against what the president wanted to project. Syrskyi will have to prove that Zaluzhny was wrong – a no small feat as he faces the 470,000-strong Russian contingent in the occupied territories within Ukraine, according to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.

On the other hand, there are doubts about just how capable the Russian forces are: "In the summer, they stopped the Ukrainian counteroffensive, but since October, when they went on the offensive, they have not conquered anything except Avdiivka," Fedorov recalls. "It's hard to imagine them making another effort to take Kyiv, for example, or Kharkiv. Putin's optimal scenario for the coming year is the conquest of the Donetsk Oblast. In the summer, they may try to break through toward Zaporizhzhia in the south, because there are no natural obstacles there."

According to Fedorov, the worst possible scenario for Ukraine would be "the loss of American support, which would force a deep retreat and a defense from within cities like Poltava, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia."

The Israeli angle

The future of Ukraine in the third year of the war has an Israeli component as well – both because the joint aid package is stuck in Congress, and because the Gaza war has diverted attention away from there. "Biden was right: Israel is fighting against a terrorist organization, and Ukraine is fighting against a terrorist state," Yevgen Korniychuk, Ukraine's ambassador to Israel, tells Israel Hayom. "Therefore, we need to make a joint effort at the parliamentary level with the House of Representatives [to pass the aid package], and we are already working on that.

"Moreover, it is possible to use the vast experience of the Ukrainian army to strengthen Israel. The most advanced developments – drones, anti-drone systems, air defense systems – are being used in our theater of operations. There are ways to promote cooperation, for example, if Israel appoints a military attaché in Kyiv."

As the second year of the war in Ukraine draws to a close, it is increasingly clear that Jerusalem and Kyiv are knee-deep in a fight against the Tehran-Moscow axis. According to the ambassador, "There is no doubt that increased cooperation between Russia and Iran does not bode well for either Ukraine or for Israel."

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The death toll from a Russian missile strike on the village of Hroza in northeastern Ukraine rose to 52 on Friday after another victim died overnight in hospital, the regional governor said.

A missile slammed into a cafe and grocery store in the village on Thursday as people gathered to mourn a fallen Ukrainian soldier. "Fifty-two people died as a result of this missile attack. One person died in a medical facility," Oleh Synehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, told Ukrainian television. "People are still there (in hospitals). The injuries are quite serious."

Synehubov said rescuers were still working at the scene of the attack. Three days of mourning were announced in the Kharkiv region after the deadliest attack in the region since Russia's invasion more than 19 months ago. It was also one of the biggest civilian death tolls in any single Russian strike.

Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but many have been killed in attacks that have hit residential areas as well as energy, defense, port, grain, and other facilities.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the incident was a deliberate attack on civilians and "no blind strike." Large piles of bricks, shattered metal, and building materials remained where the cafe and shop were hit early in the afternoon in Hroza village in Kharkiv region.

The attack was the deadliest in Kharkiv region since Russia's invasion more than 19 months ago, a regional official told public broadcaster Suspilne. It also appeared to be one of the biggest civilian death tolls in any single Russian strike. Regional police told national television the death toll stood at 51, with six injured and three missing. Some of them were mourners gathering in the cafe after a service for a fallen soldier from the village.

Video: Russian missile strike destroys buildings, kills 51 in Ukraine village / Credit: Reuters

"A deliberate missile strike on a village in Kharkiv region on an ordinary store and cafe," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, delivered while attending a summit of the European Political Community in Spain. "Russian troops could not have been unaware of where they were hitting. This was no blind strike."

Moscow did not immediately comment on the events in Hroza. Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but many have been killed in attacks that have hit residential areas as well as energy, defense, port, grain, and other facilities. The village was near the town of Kupiansk, recaptured by Ukrainian forces late last year, and close to one of the war's front lines. Zelenskyy said a six-year-old boy was among the dead and regional officials said families had remained in the village despite a war-time order to evacuate.

Taking away the dead

Rescue workers made their way through mounds of debris and laid out bodies in a field next to a children's playground. Some were placed in white body bags and taken away. Others were barely covered by carpets or other materials, with hands awkwardly protruding. "It's difficult to talk about this, but we only found bits and pieces and remains of the bodies," regional police investigator Serhiy Bolvinov said. "We'll use DNA laboratories to identify the bodies."

The missile hit during a service marking the reburial in his home village of a soldier who had died in action elsewhere. "There were only civilians. The boy was from this village. When he died, we were under occupation. The (family) decided to rebury him, to bring him home," resident Oleksandr Mukhovatyi said. "Then this happened. Someone betrayed us. The attack was precise, it all landed in the coffee shop."

Mukhovatyi said his mother, brother, and sister-in-law were among the dead. Prosecutors told public broadcaster Suspilne that the son of the soldier undergoing reburial – also a soldier – was also killed in the attack, along with the son's wife and mother.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said local officials had been sitting down for a meal when the missile struck. "From every family, from every household, there were people present at this commemoration. This is a terrible tragedy," Klymenko told Ukrainian television.

Klymenko cited preliminary information that he said showed the attack was carried out with an Iskander ballistic missile. He said the strike was clearly targeted and that Ukrainian security services had launched an investigation into the matter. "The terrorists deliberately carried out the attack during lunchtime, to ensure a maximum number of casualties," Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.

"There were no military targets there. This is a heinous crime intended to scare Ukrainians." Russia has frequently carried out air strikes since the start of its invasion. Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive in the south and east that it says is gradually making progress.

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Ukraine's ambassador to Israel threatened Sunday to block entry for Israelis to Uman for the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage unless Jerusalem "stopped deporting Ukrainians."

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Canceling the visa-free policy with Israel is also being considered, Yevhen Kornichuk said.

According to data, Israel has deported 2,037 Ukrainians since the beginning of 2023, almost the same number deported in all of 2022 (2,705 Ukrainians).

Video: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives at the NATO summit in Vilnius / Credit: Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week, "I listened to the report ... regarding the attitude toward our citizens – immigrants who are in different countries, and regarding visa policies. The things that citizens of Ukraine actually face in the visa issue. The rights of Ukrainian citizens must be guaranteed."

According to Kornichuk, Zelenskyy was referring to Israel and warned that "Ukraine will not tolerate the humiliation of its citizens upon arrival to Israel."

He said it was "unreasonable that we should go out of our way to host tens of thousands of Israelis in Uman, with a high security risk and major logistical effort, while the Israeli government mistreats our citizens."

He called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene personally if "he wants Israeli citizens to be able to continue to travel to Ukraine as tourists."

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British spies are already using artificial intelligence to hamper the supply of weapons to Russia, the head of Britain's MI6 agency said Wednesday, predicting that Western intelligence agencies will increasingly have to focus on tracking the malign use of AI by hostile states.

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In a rare public speech, Richard Moore also urged Russians who oppose the invasion of Ukraine to spy for Britain, saying others had already done so since the war began.

"Our door is always open," he said.

In a speech that depicted artificial intelligence as both a huge potential asset and a major threat, Moore said his staff at Britain's foreign intelligence agency "are combining their skills with AI and bulk data to identify and disrupt the flow of weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine."

Moore called China the "single most important strategic focus" for his agency and said, "We will increasingly be tasked with obtaining intelligence on how hostile states are using AI in damaging, reckless, and unethical ways."

Moore, who has previously warned that the West was falling behind rivals in the AI race, said his service "together with our allies, intends to win the race to master the ethical and safe use of AI."

But he said AI would not replace the need for human spies, arguing that the "human factor" will remain crucial in an era of rapidly evolving machine learning. "As AI trawls the ocean of open source, there will be even greater value in landing, with a well-cast fly, the secrets that lie beyond the reach of its nets," he said.

He argued that "the unique characteristics of human agents in the right places will become still more significant," highlighting spies' ability to "influence decisions inside a government or terrorist group."

Moore also told an audience at the British ambassador's residence in Prague that Russia's military campaign in Ukraine had run out of steam and "there appears to be little prospect of the Russian forces regaining momentum."

He said Ukraine's counteroffensive was proving "a hard grind" against strong Russian defenses, but he was optimistic it would succeed.

Moore said the government of President Vladimir Putin was beset by "venality, infighting, and callous incompetence" and the mutiny by Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had "exposed the inexorable decay of the unstable autocracy over which Putin presides."

He said Putin was "under pressure" after the brief rebellion and the "humiliating" deal he struck with the help of Belarus to end it. The Kremlin says Prigozhin attended a military meeting in Moscow with Putin after the mutiny.

"He really didn't fight back against Prigozhin. He cut a deal to save his skin," Moore told the audience.

"Prigozhin started off as a traitor at breakfast, he had been pardoned by supper, and then two days later he was invited for tea," Moore said. "So there are some things that even the chief of MI6 finds a little bit difficult to interpret, in terms of who's in and who's out."

He accused Russia of using Wagner as a tool of imperialism in Africa, offering leaders in the Central African Republic, Mali, and other countries a "Faustian pact" of protection in return for handing over mineral wealth to Russia.

Moore also called out Iran for fueling further conflict in Ukraine by supplying Russia with drones and other weapons – a policy he said "has provoked internal quarrels at the highest level of the regime in Tehran."

Speaking publicly about spycraft is still something of a novelty for Britain's intelligence services. The government refused even to confirm the existence of MI6 until 1992, and public speeches by its leaders are infrequent.

Moore chose to give Wednesday's address in the Czech capital, home of the 1968 "Prague Spring" freedom movement that was crushed by Soviet tanks.

Evoking that moment, he said many Russians now felt "the same tugs of conscience as their predecessors did in 1968." The crushing of the Prague Spring spurred a wave of defections from the USSR to the West.

"I invite them to do what others have already done this past 18 months and join hands with us," he said, assuring prospective defectors that "their secrets will always be safe with us." Most intelligence defectors' names are never known – unless something goes wrong. Former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned and seriously sickened with a Soviet-made nerve agent in 2018 in the English city of Salisbury, where he had been living quietly for years.

Moore recounted how an agent codenamed Ecclesiastic, who penetrated German intelligence for MI6 in 1944, was looked after by the service until her death at age 100. He said MI6 agents then gathered to scatter her ashes in the English Channel.

"Our loyalty to our agents is lifelong, and our gratitude eternal," he said.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday he would meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on his first-ever trip to Saudi Arabia.

Upon arriving in Saudi Arabia he stressed that his priorities were to discuss Ukraine's peace formula for ending Russia's war on his country, protection of the Muslim community in Ukraine, and the return of political prisoners from Crimea, which has been annexed by Russia.

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The Ukrainian leader landed on Friday in Jeddah to attend an Arab League summit, Saudi-owned al-Hadath TV reported. Zelenskyy arrived on a French government plane. He is also due to attend the G7 leaders' summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima this weekend, although this could take place virtually.

Gulf states have tried to remain neutral in the Ukraine conflict despite Western pressure on Gulf oil producers to help isolate Russia, a fellow OPEC+ member. Saudi Arabia said last year it was granting Ukraine $400 million in humanitarian aid after it faced heavy criticism from the United States over an OPEC+ decision to cut oil production, seen as helping Russia to refill its coffers by boosting prices.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has mediated in the Russia-Ukraine conflict before. Last year he won a diplomatic triumph when he secured the release of 10 foreigners captured by Russia in Ukraine. The move was apparently made possible by his close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At a time when Russia's war on Ukraine has roiled global energy markets, the role the kingdom plays as the world's largest oil exporter has grown in importance to both Washington and Moscow.

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A delegation from the Israeli Foreign Ministry was criticized this week for traveling to Moscow for an official visit.

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On May 3, Simona Halperin, deputy director general for Euro-Asia and Joshua Zarka, deputy director general for strategic affairs, met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin, director of the Department for Middle East and North Africa.

It is the first known high-level meeting between Israeli and Russian diplomats since the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, excluding efforts by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.

Moscow confirmed the meeting took place the day after. Keeping a low profile, Jerusalem did not make any official announcements on the matter but too confirmed the meeting took place as a response to an Israel Hayom inquiry, saying the talks focused on strategic issues, most likely the Iranian threat.

The Foreign Ministry was criticized on social media, with Hanna Zharova, co-founder and co-chair of Israeli Friends of Ukraine NGO, saying, "Turns out that while Russia is being isolated by the entire world, except by Iran, Israel is holding official meetings [in Moscow]. Especially at a time when missiles are being launched toward Israel by the friends of the Putin regime."

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Russian shelling killed 23 people in and near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Wednesday, hitting a hypermarket, a railway station, and residential buildings, the regional governor said.

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"The enemy's targets are the places where we live. Their targets are our lives and the lives of our children," Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said, announcing the latest death toll in an online video on Thursday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday decried the attacks on Kherson, condemning "the bloody trail that Russia leaves behind with its shells". Prokudin said 46 people had also been wounded in Wednesday's attacks. The dead included three engineers trying to repair the damage inflicted on the power grid in earlier Russian bombardments, local officials said.

Pools of blood and piles of debris lay on the ground outside the Kherson hypermarket after the attacks, Reuters correspondents on the scene said. Russia did not immediately comment on the attacks in Kherson, one of four Ukrainian regions it said it annexed last September. Moscow has denied targeting civilians in its invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.

Many windows were smashed at the railway station. Three women who had been eating at the time of the attack said they took cover under a table. Moscow has stepped up air strikes on Ukraine in the past few days as Kyiv prepares for a counteroffensive in which it is expected to try to retake occupied territory in the Kherson region.

Ukrainian troops recaptured Kherson city last November after nearly eight months of occupation, but Russian troops retreated only as far as the opposite side of the Dnipro River, from where they now shell the city.

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