Russia is wearing down Kyiv’s air defenses with near-daily drone attacks. Now the strikes continue into daylight. — Meduza

Russian strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region kill three, including a child, and wound seven — Meduza

Moscow is about to ‘restore’ its landmark 1922 Shukhov radio tower — by dismantling it and replacing almost all of its original steel — Meduza

Reuters: Russia is budgeting a record 17.1 trillion rubles for the military in 2027, while cutting planned spending on welfare, education, and healthcare — Meduza

Soviet and Russian actress Alla Demidova, who turns 90 today, built a career on firsts. One of them was speaking the word ‘erection’ on a Russian stage. — Meduza

Pope Leo XIV urges European leaders to be willing to make concessions to help end Russia–Ukraine war — but doesn’t say what should be conceded — Meduza

Yekaterina Schulmann says Russian election expert Alexander Kynev’s leg was broken while he was being pressured to confess to treason — Meduza

Putin imposes new limits on taking cash rubles out of Russia — Meduza

Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk to close two of its five maternity hospitals after regional birth rate nearly halves — Meduza

Russian state companies more than triple spending on landline phones amid internet restrictions — Meduza

Some Russian notaries won’t certify powers of attorney for draft-age men seeking representation at enlistment offices unless the men prove they have no pending summonses, rights groups say — Meduza

Estonia accuses Russian intelligence services of ordering arson at defense-robotics company supplying Ukraine — Meduza

Russian Tu-95 strategic bomber crashes in country’s Far East, killing six — Meduza

The Atlantic: Trump backs plan to ease Russia sanctions in exchange for political prisoners without waiting for the Ukraine war to end — Meduza

‘Yes, I regret going’: Russian IT specialist returned to Russia to visit his ailing father and was charged with treason over €30 sent to his ex-girlfriend in Ukraine. — Meduza

Russian opposition party leader is cited for ‘petty hooliganism’ after writing pro-peace, pro-ceasefire statements on his election ballot — Meduza

‘Let them be scared.’ Senior Russian government source says temporary takeovers of European companies’ assets are meant to pressure EU over sanctions. — Meduza

Russian republic of Tuva reappoints Lyudmila Narusova to Federation Council after reports that the longtime senator would be replaced — Meduza

Russia steps up VPN blocking after parliamentary elections. Ten services report tighter restrictions in a single week. — Meduza

Putin claims that Ukraine has no ‘antidote’ to Russia’s new jet-powered drones. Kyiv has already shown it can shoot them down, but doing it at scale could cost billions. — Meduza

Russia attacks Kyiv again with missiles and drones, sparking fires at an educational facility and the roof of a five-story apartment building — Meduza

Russian pizza chain Dodo Pizza says hackers breached its systems and may have accessed customer data — Meduza

Russia’s ruling party nominates Vyacheslav Volodin for a third consecutive term as speaker of the State Duma — Meduza

Russia keeps attacking Ukrainian data centers, calling it a ‘mandatory digital detox’ — Meduza

Russian street artist Slava Ptrk sums up four years abroad: ‘Unwanted There / Unwanted Here’ — Meduza

Putin orders fourth expansion of Russia’s armed forces this year — Meduza

Family in Russia’s Irkutsk region accuses police of plying a 54-year-old man with alcohol and forcing him to sign papers for military service in Ukraine — Meduza

Kremlin says enabling Starlink-equipped Ukrainian drones to strike deep inside Russia would be ‘reckless’ — Meduza

More than 650,000 people left without water in Russia’s Far East after substation outage — Meduza

Russian publisher Individuum shuts down following queer literature crackdown — Meduza

Russian court sentences serial killer Alexei Gaskov to life for murdering nine women and one man outside Moscow — Meduza

Hungarian parliament strips Prime Minister Péter Magyar of immunity in theft case stemming from 2024 nightclub altercation — Meduza

Russian general Alexander Lapin, dismissed from military service after setbacks in Ukraine, becomes Tatarstan deputy prime minister overseeing war-related affairs — Meduza

Putin bans online publication of fuel export and oil refinery processing data in a bid to make Western sanctions harder to enforce — Meduza

What happened to the Russians Putin mobilized four years ago? Meduza follows two of them — one still at the front, the other now a deserter in Spain. — Meduza

WSJ: Russia offers $20 million reward for capture of Ukrainian drone commander Robert ‘Magyar’ Brovdi — Meduza

Aleksandar Vučić resigns as Serbia’s president eight months early to run for prime minister instead — Meduza

Fire at pyrotechnics warehouse kills 14 in Russia’s Yaroslavl region, damages nine apartment buildings — Meduza

EU sanctions 10 Russian judges, prosecutors, and officials over opposition party Yabloko’s exclusion from parliamentary elections. A North Korean children’s camp is also added to the sanctions list. — Meduza

Russian drone strike sets a building belonging to Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences on fire in central Kyiv, killing at least two people — Meduza

Reuters: Russia plans record defense spending of 17 trillion rubles in 2027, 27% more than previously budgeted — Meduza

Bloomberg: Hungary’s OTP Bank considers a full Russia exit as regulators review its purchase of Baltic lender Luminor — Meduza

Rights group says Russian elections expert Alexander Kynev was beaten during arrest, hospitalized with two lower-leg fractures — Meduza

Putin places German retailer Metro’s Russian assets under temporary control of a company registered three weeks earlier — Meduza

South Korea demands an apology from Ukraine for disclosing the secret transfer of two North Korean prisoners — Meduza

Russian strike on apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, injures 25 people, including nine children, regional governor says — Meduza

Russia opens criminal case against anti-war organizer, former model, and London councilor Ksenia Maksimova — Meduza

Russia suspends planned inspections for one year at businesses hit by Ukrainian drone attacks — Meduza

Dmitri Shostakovich at 120: How the icon drew on Bach, jazz, and cinema to create his own musical language — Meduza

A decade ago, Russian airline group S7 bet on a floating spaceport to break into the commercial launch market. Yet Sea Launch hasn’t launched a rocket in more than 12 years. — Meduza