With a stalemate in Ukraine and discontent at home, Putin seems ready to escalate his war [View all]

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated 2:03 AM EDT, May 29, 2026


Facing a battlefield stalemate in Ukraine and growing war fatigue among Russians, President Vladimir Putin appears ready to try to change the narrative around the conflict.

He looks likely to sharply escalate the Russian aerial attacks on the Ukrainian capital in the hope it will shore up his sagging domestic approval ratings and persuade an increasingly pessimistic audience at home that Moscow is winning the war, now in its fifth year.

Russia’s warning to carry out “consistent and systematic” missile strikes on Kyiv, accompanied by a call for evacuating foreign embassies from the capital, signals Putin’s intention to expand Russia’s barrage despite the heavy costs and potential international outrage.

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“The character of the war is shifting in favor of Ukrainian forces, at least for now,” the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a recent analysis. “Russian forces’ rates of advances are stagnating while Ukrainian forces are employing novel tactics and operational concepts in efforts to break out of positional warfare.”
https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-0c31bbbf0d06c457c00d046bc7ba99f7

Four years since the full‑scale invasion of Ukraine: key facts and findings ----United Nations Human Rights

This fact sheet summarizes the cumulative impact of the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on human rights and civilian protection. It is based on the monitoring, documentation, and public reporting by the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
https://ukraine.ohchr.org/en/Four-years-since-the-full%E2%80%91scale-invasion-of-Ukraine-key-facts-and-findings-February-2026


Nearly half a million Russians killed in Ukraine war, UK spy chief says
https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-0c31bbbf0d06c457c00d046bc7ba99f7

Putin cares about no one but himself.