THE RUSSO-UKRAINE WAR BRIEF
Day 1167 of the full scale invasion
Slava Ukraini! In early 2022 I began a Telegram channel aggregating news from a number of sources daily on the war in Ukraine. In June 2023 I began providing a daily draft for the Ukraine War Brief Podcast collecting news from over 70 sources daily, which formed the basis of the script. While the Podcast no longer exists I have continued to make this Brief available for my followers here on Substack for those who wish to keep up with the news from the war.
All the latest news on the Russo-Ukraine War 6 days per week
ALONG THE CONTACT LINE
GSAFU Morning Report
For: May 5, 2025
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its Operational Information update at 08:00 on May 5 stated that day 1167 of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation against Ukraine had begun.
The situation on the line of combat remains tense in some sectors. Ukrainian defenders continue to actively counteract the Russian aggressor, causing them significant losses in personnel, equipment and technology. Exhausting the enemy along the entire front line and continuing to disrupt the plans of Russian occupiers to advance deeper into the territory of Ukraine.
During the past two days, 522 combat engagements took place.
Over the past 48 hours, the enemy carried out 3 missile strikes, 187 air strikes, used 5,388 attack drones and fired approximately 11,900 artillery shells across the positions of Ukrainian forces and civilians.
Air Force Daily Report
69 ENEMY UAVS SHOT DOWN, 80 SIMULATOR UAVS FAILED TO REACH THEIR TARGETS (LOCATIONALLY LOST)
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On the night of May 4, 2025 (from 9:00 p.m. on May 3), the enemy attacked with 165 strike UAVs and other types of simulator drones from the areas of: Bryansk, Kursk, Orel, Millerovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk - Russian Federation, Primorsk - TOT Zaporizhzhia region.
The enemy air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare equipment, and mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
As of 09:00, 69 Shahed attack UAVs (and other types of drones) have been confirmed shot down in the east, north, south, and center of the country.
80 enemy drone simulators were lost in location (without negative consequences).
As a result of the enemy attack, the Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy, and Kyiv regions suffered.
42 ENEMY UAVS SHOT DOWN, 21 SIMULATOR UAVS FAILED TO REACH THEIR TARGETS (LOCATIONALLY LOST)
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On the night of May 5, 2025 (from 23:00 on May 4), the enemy attacked the Sumy region with two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles from the Kursk region - the Russian Federation, as well as 116 strike UAVs and other types of simulator drones from the areas: Kursk, Orel, Millerovo - the Russian Federation, Primorsk - TOT Zaporizhia region.
The enemy air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare equipment, and mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
As of 09:00, it has been confirmed that 42 Shahed attack UAVs (and other types of drones) have been shot down in the east, north, and south of the country.
21 enemy drone simulators — lost in location (without negative consequences).
Sumy and Donetsk regions suffered as a result of the enemy attack.
Combat Operations in the Russian Federation
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US based think tank, in its May 4 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment reported that:
Sumy - Kursk Border: Limited fighting continued in Kursk Oblast on May 3 and 4 as Russian forces continue efforts to push Ukrainian forces from the area.
Belgorod Incursion: Russian milbloggers claimed on May 3 and 4 that Ukrainian forces maintain a limited presence in northwestern Belgorod Oblast near Popovka and Demidovka (both northwest of Belgorod City).
The Khortytsia operational-strategic group
(Responsible for the northeastern part of Ukraine. )
Kupyansk Sector: Russian forces recently advanced in the Kupyansk direction.
Assessed Russian advances: Geolocated footage published on May 1 indicates that Russian forces recently advanced northwest of Zapadne (north of Kupyansk).
Toretsk Sector: Ukrainian and Russian forces recently advanced in the Toretsk direction.
Geolocated footage published on May 4 indicates that Ukrainian forces recently advanced in southern Novospaske (west of Toretsk).
Geolocated footage published on May 4 indicates that Russian forces recently advanced south of Stara Mykolaivka (southwest of Toretsk).
The Tavria operational-strategic group
(Responsible for the central-eastern and southeastern part of Ukraine.)
There have been no major changes to the combat environment since our last report.
The Odesa operational-strategic group
(Responsible for Kherson, Qırım, (also known as Crimea) and the Black Sea.)
There have been no major changes to the combat environment since our last report.
TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Ukraine downs second Russian plane in a day, President Zelenskyy says.
Ukrainian forces destroyed a second Russian aircraft in occupied Qirim [Crimea] on May 3, alongside military warehouses, following a historic drone strike on another plane, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on Telegram.
"Our army conducted a very accurate operation on military facilities in Crimea: minus one more, the second Russian plane in a day," the president said.
Russian military depots in occupied Crimea were also destroyed, Zelenskyy added. The downing of the first Russian aircraft from a naval drone was "brilliant," he said.
On May 3, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate confirmed the first-ever strike on a Russian Su-30 fighter jet using a Magura naval drone’s missile near Novorossiysk port, where Russia maintains remnants of its Black Sea Fleet.
Social media reports earlier that day indicated the Su-30’s crew may have survived
Russian authorities reported a “massive” drone attack on Krasnodar Krai and Rostov Oblast, including Novorossiysk, home to Russia’s largest port and a Black Sea Fleet base.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have intercepted Neptune and Storm Shadow missiles, 170 UAVs, and 14 naval drones.
THE HOME FRONT
4 killed, 30 injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine on May 4.
At least four people were killed and 30 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day, the Kyiv Independent reported citing regional authorities on May 4.
In Kyiv, 11 people, including two children, were injured, Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said. The Dream Town shopping mall, at least seven cars, and the upper floors of a high-rise caught fire from strikes.
In Donetsk Oblast, Russian forces killed two residents in Komar and one in Myrnohrad, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Two others were injured.
A man was killed and four women injured in Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Four localities in the region came under attack.
Nine people were injured in Kherson Oblast after Russian troops hit residential areas and critical infrastructure, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. Two apartment buildings, nine houses, and other infrastructure were damaged.
Two police officers were injured in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast during a Russian drone attack, Governor Serhii Lysak said. Three businesses, two apartment buildings, and several houses were damaged.
At least two people were also injured in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Governor Ivan Fedorov said.
"The Russians are calling for a ceasefire on May 9 while striking Ukraine every single day. This is top-level cynicism," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, commenting on the attacks.
"A real ceasefire is necessary. Ukraine is ready for silence to begin on any day — but for no less than a month, to bring the war to an end. If there's silence, it must be every day."
The attacks come amid Moscow's continued rejection of a complete ceasefire agreement and follow an escalation of strikes targeting civilian areas across Ukraine.
Ukrainian court orders detention of ex-deputy head of President's Office during corruption probe.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court on May 5 ordered former deputy head of the President’s Office Andrii Smyrnov into pretrial detention until May 22 as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged large-scale corruption, the Kyiv Independent reported citing a Suspilne correspondent present in the courtroom.
The court granted prosecutors' request in part, setting bail at Hr 18 million (approximately $430,000). Prosecutors had sought to keep Smyrnov in custody with a higher bail amount of over Hr 20 million (approximately $477,000).
Smyrnov is under investigation for allegedly legalizing illicit assets and accepting a bribe worth $100,000. Smirnov held the position of president's office deputy head from September 2019 until March 2024, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed him without naming a reason.
His lawyer argued that the prosecution failed to present new evidence or justify the need for detention, calling the request "unsubstantiated." The defense maintains that the case has not progressed in over six months and lacks grounds for such a restrictive measure.
Speaking to Suspilne following the ruling, Smyrnov said he would fight the charges and prove his innocence. "I consider this decision unfair," he said, adding: "I will fight and prove that I am right."
According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), the suspect acquired assets worth more than Hr 17 million ($426,000) between 2020-2022, although he officially reported his salary and savings for the time period as Hr 1.3 million ($32,500).
Smyrnov reportedly purchased two luxury cars, two motorcycles, several parking spaces, an apartment in Lviv, and a land plot in Zakarpattia Oblast.
In an effort to cover up his ownership of the assets, NABU said that he transferred the majority of the property assets to his brother, but secretly retained access.
On April 16, Smyrnov was charged with new offenses. Between 2019 and 2021, Smyrnov allegedly laundered nearly Hr 6.5 million ($157,000) by funding the construction of seaside homes in Odesa Oblast registered under another company, according to NABU.
After his indictment in May 2024, the properties were re-registered under a trustee’s name. Investigators say Smyrnov also accepted $100,000 worth of construction services in 2022 in exchange for using his influence to sway a tender decision by Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee.
RUSSIAN WORLD
Ukraine reportedly attacks Russian Strela electromechanical plant in Bryansk Oblast.
Ukraine attacked the Strela electromechanical plant in Russia's Bryansk Oblast on April 4, destroying two workshops, the Kyiv Independent reported citing Russian pro-government Telegram channel Shot.
The attack sparked a fire covering an area of 250 square meters (about 2,690 square feet), damaging critical infrastructure of the plant, Shot wrote.
The Strela plant, located in Suzemka near the Ukrainian border, produces radar equipment, transformers, chokes, and other electronics for Russia's defense, aerospace, and electronics industries.
Andrii Kovalenko, an official at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, claimed the facility can no longer operate after an attack.
The governor of Bryansk Oblast, Alexander Bogomaz, confirmed a fire had broken out at an industrial plant in Suzemka but did not name the facility.
"There was a fire at an industrial plant, production and administrative buildings were destroyed. There are no casualties," Bogomaz wrote on his official Telegram channel.
The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that one drone was destroyed over the region but did not comment on the strike or the damage to the Strela plant.
The strike on Strela comes as part of a broader wave of Ukrainian attacks targeting Russian military and industrial infrastructure.
RELATED INTERNATIONAL NEWS
'We have allies who are helping Ukraine' — Kyiv expects 3 million shells, Zelenskyy says
Ukraine expects 3 million artillery shells from its allies, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on May 4, the Kyiv Independent reports.
"If Ukraine is strong, the war will end," Zelensky told journalists in Prague alongside Czech President Petr Pavel.
Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska arrived in the Czech Republic on May 4 for an official visit with Pavel. A Czech ammunition initiative will deliver up to 1.8 million artillery shells to Ukraine by the end of 2025, Pavel said at the visit.
"Russia should know that we are expecting three million artillery shells from our allies. Not only North Korea is capable of helping in the war, we have allies who are helping Ukraine," Zelenskyy said.
Russia has turned to North Korea for support as it wages its war against Ukraine and faces isolation from the West. North Korea has confirmed that it has sent troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Kursk Oblast.
Zelenskyy warned Moscow that there are other streams of military aid in addition to the Czech ammunition initiative to help Ukraine fend off Russia's war.
The Czech initiative was launched last year to combat Ukrainian shell shortages amid delays in U.S. military aid in early 2024.
"Forcing Russia to go for a full, unconditional ceasefire, especially since it was a proposal from the United States and we supported it, is also a priority task," Zelenskyy said.
The Kremlin has shown signs it is unwilling to move forward on a peace deal with Ukraine. Russian authorities have listed maximalist demands in ceasefire negotiations brokered by the U.S.
Ukraine has already agreed to a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv is ready if Russia also agrees to the terms. So far, Moscow has refused.
Zelensky has repeatedly called for a 30-day ceasefire, saying on April 23, Ukraine insists on an "immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire."
Ukrainian Born War Critic Surfaces in France After Escape From Russia.
Russian film critic Yekaterina Barabash said Monday that she fled to France with help from the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which smuggled her out of the country the Moscow Times reports.
“It was very difficult,” Ekaterina Barabash, a 64-year-old Ukrainian-born reporter, told a news conference at RSF’s Paris headquarters. She faces up to 10 years in prison in Russia for spreading “false information” about the Russian army
Barabash said the journey to escape Russia lasted about two and a half weeks. “I arrived three days ago,” she said in English, declining to share full details for security reasons. “I am going to ask for political asylum.”
Barabash, who has written for several Russian outlets, including the Russian service of Radio France Internationale, was arrested in February on suspicion of spreading “false information” about the military through social media posts.
Russian authorities were alerted to her disappearance in Apr when she took off her electronic monitoring bracelet. “It’s somewhere in the Russian forest,” she said with a smile.
She said she hid for two weeks before fleeing and crossed the border on Apr 26 — her birthday. “I knew that everything would be OK.”
Barabash, who was born in Kharkiv when it was part of the Soviet Union, has been an outspoken critic of Moscow’s war. In March 2022, she wrote on Facebook that Russia had “bombed the country” and “razed whole cities to the ground.” Just days before her arrest, she posted: “Hatred, hatred, hatred for those who started all this.”
“So many lives have been destroyed, so many families torn apart,” she wrote. “The hatred has stopped burning, stopped suffocating me — it has hardened … I will die with it.”
Russia criminalized criticism of its military operations abroad shortly after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Authorities have since opened thousands of cases under the law, which rights groups say is being used to silence dissent.
RSF also helped smuggle out Marina Ovsyannikova, the former state TV journalist who protested the war on-air in 2022.
The organization’s director Thibault Bruttin said it has become more difficult to help journalists leave Russia since Ovsyannikov escaped. “We are very relieved,” he said. “It’s very dangerous.”
MILITARY & TECH
Despite Continued Losses, Russia Has Failed to Achieve Major Gains in Ukraine This Year
The UK Ministry of Defence in their May 3 Intelligence Update on Ukraine stated Russia has likely incurred approximately 950,000 casualties (killed and wounded) since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the UK Defense Intelligence reports.
In the first four months of 2025, Russia likely sustained approximately 160,000 personnel losses. Should this dynamic persist for the rest of 2025, this would be the costliest year of the war for the Russian troop count, continuing the year-on-year trend of growing casualty rates.
The average daily Russian casualties during April 2025 was just over 1,200, and totaled 36,000 throughout the month, according to the Ukrainian General Staff reporting. This was a moderate decrease from the daily average of 1,300 in March 2025.
Whilst the current casualties remain below the peak daily death toll of nearly 1,600 in late 2024, when Russia was making territorial gains, they still lean towards the high end in the overall context of the conflict. So far in 2025, Russia has not been able to translate continued heavy losses into significant advances in Ukraine.
France to ramp up AASM Hammer smart bomb production for Ukraine
France plans to manufacture 1,200 AASM Hammer guided air bombs in 2025, up from 830 units produced in 2024, Le Parisien, a French daily newspaper, reported on May 2.
The French-made precision bombs are being transferred to Ukraine as part of ongoing defense support, and their use by Ukrainian fighter jets has grown significantly since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The AASM Hammer, developed by French company Safran, has become a weapon of choice for Ukraine’s air force thanks to its high accuracy and resistance to Russian electronic warfare, according to Le Parisien. The French government asked Safran to integrate surface-to-air missile systems (SAM) onto Ukrainian fighter jets after American JDAM GPS-guided munitions failed to hit targets. Safran reportedly completed the integration "in less than four months in the fall of 2023," enabling precise targeting from Ukraine’s Soviet-era jets.
Safran's CEO Franck Saudo highlighted the system’s resistance to GPS jamming and compatibility with Ukrainian MiG and Su aircraft. Saudo explained that the module feature protects the bombs from Russian GPS jamming and guarantees high target accuracy. The French Defense Ministry confirmed earlier that the bombs can be launched from Ukraine’s existing aircraft fleet.
According to Le Parisien, France currently supplies Ukraine with around 50 AASM bombs each month. The weapon entered service with the French military in 2008 and became standard for the Dassault Rafale, a French twin-engine, multirole fighter aircraft but has since been adapted for use on other aircraft, including the F-16 and Mirage 2000.
US to send refurbished Patriot air defense system from Israel to Ukraine.
A Patriot air defense system based in Israel will be transferred to Ukraine after refurbishment, the New York Times reported on May 4, citing four unnamed current and former U.S. officials.
According to the publication, Western allies are also discussing the logistics of supplying additional systems from Germany or Greece as Russia escalates its attacks across Ukraine.
The sources declined to go into detail about U.S. President Donald Trump's stance on the decision or clarify whether the move was initiated before he took office, during former President Joe Biden's administration.
The move comes amid a sharp increase in Russian strikes that have caused numerous casualties in Kryvyi Rih, Sumy, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Kyiv.
Kyiv has consistently pressed Western partners to bolster Ukraine's air defenses, warning that its current capabilities are insufficient to counter the scale of Russian missile and drone assaults.
The Patriot system, a U.S.-made surface-to-air missile platform, is widely recognized for its high-precision detection, tracking, and interception of aircraft, cruise, and ballistic missiles.
According to the New York Times, Ukraine currently has eight Patriot systems, of which only six are operational. The remaining two are reportedly undergoing refurbishment.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated Ukraine's urgent need for air defenses in an April 13 interview with CBS News, saying Kyiv is ready to purchase 10 U.S.-made Patriot systems for $15 billion to shield densely populated cities.
"We will find the money and pay for everything," Zelensky said, emphasizing Ukraine's intention to buy, not request, additional systems.
Despite Kyiv's appeals, Trump dismissed the request on April 14, accusing Zelensky of "always looking to purchase missiles" and falsely blaming Ukraine for instigating the war.
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