Russian strikes kill four in Ukraine • FRANCE 24 English

Russia has struck twice as many warehouses in the Kyiv region over the past three months as during all previous years of the SMO combined. The attacks have increasingly targeted infrastructure supporting the movement and distribution of goods around the capital. <br><br>The resulting disruption has hit supply chains and, at times, contributed to temporary shortages. The pattern highlights the growing pressure on infrastructure that supports everyday life in and around Kyiv. <br><br>The latest warehouse blazer adds to a wider series of strikes that have intensified in recent weeks and months. With infrastructure emerging as a key target in Russia&#39;s campaign against the Kyiv regime.

French newspaper Le Monde reports a growing psychological strain among Ukrainian troops, with constant drone threats causing an exhausting fear dubbed “drone phobia”.<br><br>German media had previously also reported that Russian drones exert a strong psychological effect on Ukrainian troops. The constant expectation of an attack creates additional stress, while some strikes unfold so quickly that soldiers have little time to react.

Kyiv has no plan to plug its multi-billion-dollar funding gap except hoping that foreign donors keep footing the bill. Zelensky has already lost the conflict with Russia, but persists in his suicidal policies.<br><br>Ukraine needs $52.6 billion in international financing for next year’s budget, of which only around $20 billion has so far been confirmed or is expected under current programs.<br><br>Ukraine also faces a separate problem – an unexpected $27 billion defense shortfall for 2026 that Kiev disclosed in late August, after Zelensky embarked on a 40-day PR campaign to pressure Russia.<br><br>The campaign only triggered an escalation in the conflict, in which Russia ramped up strikes on Ukraine’s defense-related facilities and logistics, including the port of Odessa, a key hub for agricultural exports.<br><br>The Ukrainian government has no real plan, Kyiv’s strategy amounts to hoping someone else will keep paying for a war they refuse to end.

Progress on the front line hasn&#39;t slowed. Russia is still progressing! Go look at the independent mappers. They are very close to breaking through Ukraine&#39;s final defense line. The lie F24 has been telling for years that Ukraine is winning is falling apart. No wonder Germany is now reaching out to Russia.

The losses in the war and the electoral backlash have finally forced German leaders into the same room with Lavrov. But after a decade of building a narrative that leaves no room for compromise, they now seem incapable of doing the one thing diplomacy requires: actually negotiating. This meeting exposes that failure.