Debris on fire on the premises of a school in Kyiv, Ukraine, after Russian missile and drone strikes, May 24, 2026 (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Sunday’s Coverage: Russia’s “Massive” Attack Kills 2+, Injures 83 in Kyiv

UPDATE 0729 GMT:

Pjotr Sauer and Shaun Walker of The Guardian write of Vladimir Putin as an “increasingly isolated leader surrounded by an elite that is becoming rapidly disillusioned”.

A “well-connected business leader” summarizes, “There’s definitely been a shift in mood among the elites this year….There is profound disappointment in Putin [with] a growing sense that some kind of catastrophe is looming.”

No one believes everything will suddenly collapse tomorrow. But there is a growing realisation that utterly senseless, self-destructive decisions keep being made. People who once defended Putin no longer do. Any sense of a future has disappeared.

But Putin is determined to continue Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, believing Moscow can seize the rest of the Donetsk region by the end of 2026.

“Putin is fixated on Donbas [the Donetsk and Luhansk regions] and he will not stop before that,” a source said.

A Ukrainian intelligence official said Russian generals have convinced Putin that he will have his achievement: “Fabricated reports [are] being fed up the chain of command, claiming victory is imminent.”

A “person familiar with discussions in the Kremlin” echoed, “Of course, officials and the military paint a rosy picture for the president. They lie to him. That’s how the system Putin has built works.”

A “source close to Putin” and an official involved in back-channel talks said Putin has lost faith in the Trump Administration pressuring Ukraine into surrendering territory.

“There was this widespread optimism in Moscow that Trump could deliver the Donbas after his election. It has largely evaporated,” one source in contact with Putin said.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: International leaders have condemned Russia’s mass missile and strikes, including its third use of a nuclear-capable intermediate-range Oreshnik ballistic missile, on Kyiv and across Ukraine on Sunday.

At least four civilians were murdered and more than 100 wounded. Two of the fatalities and 87 of the injured were in the capital.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the “nuclear brinkmanship” in Russia’s firing of the Oreshnik. “They are genuinely deranged,” he said of the Kremlin.

European Union foreign policy head Kaja Kallas followed up:

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola added, “We will not be silent. These acts of brutality do not serve to strengthen Russia’s hand. It weakens it.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Estonian President Alar Karis, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker, and European Council President António Costa were among the leaders posting similar messages.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko, after Minsk’s involvement in nuclear drills with Russia this week, against any role in Moscow’s invasion.

In their first phone call since the early days of Russia’s full-scale assault in February 2022, Macron “stressed the risks for Belarus of allowing itself to be drawn into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”, said an official.

The President urged Alexander Lukashenko “to take the necessary steps to improve relations between Belarus and Europe”.