{"id":1391200,"date":"2026-05-08T15:40:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/ukraine-drove-the-kremlin-into-a-diplomatic-and-military-trap-before-may-9\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:40:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:40:54","slug":"ukraine-drove-the-kremlin-into-a-diplomatic-and-military-trap-before-may-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/ukraine-drove-the-kremlin-into-a-diplomatic-and-military-trap-before-may-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine drove the Kremlin into a diplomatic and military trap before May 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday, May 8, the Ministry of Defense of the aggressor country stated that during the night, the air defense shot down 264 UAVs over 16 regions and water areas of the Azov and Black Seas.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moscow Mayor Sobyanin reported 25 drones shot down as of 6 a.m. After that, Rosaviatsia announced the introduction of flight restrictions at Moscow’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports.<\/p>\n

The head of the Rostov region, Slyusar, said that the air defense repelled the drone-missile attack, and there is falling debris and destruction in Taganrog, Bataysk, and Rostov-on-Don.<\/p>\n

In addition, Ukrainian drones attacked Perm again. An “industrial site” was hit there. Explosions were heard in Yaroslavl, after which a fire broke out on the territory of an oil refinery. According to preliminary information, the Yaroslavnefteorgsintez refinery was hit. A fire broke out on its territory.<\/p>\n

The strike on the facility in Yaroslavl has already been confirmed by the Ukrainian president. “Yaroslavl, more than 700 kilometers from the state border of Ukraine. An oil facility that was of great importance for financing the Russian war,” he said.<\/p>\n

The main effect of the latest Ukrainian attacks before May 9 is not even the potential threat to Moscow itself, but the fact that the Kremlin was forced to practically expose other regions of Russia in order to protect the parade on Red Square. It was the fear of possible strikes on the Russian capital that forced the Russian command to transfer air defense systems to Moscow and the Moscow region, creating serious gaps in the defense of other areas.<\/p>\n

The territory of the occupying country has a huge number of legitimate military targets – these are oil refineries, port infrastructure, gas and oil pumping stations, enterprises of the military-industrial complex, places of concentration of equipment. And now a unique situation has arisen: they themselves have withdrawn a significant part of the air defense systems to cover Moscow. In fact, many regions of the Russian Federation have been left without air defense systems.<\/p>\n

The enemy had problems with air defense even before this, as the Ukrainian Defense Forces and the Air Defense Command systematically attacked Russian radars and anti-aircraft missile systems.<\/p>\n

Let me remind you that only in April, fighters of the “Ghosts” special unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine struck a number of military facilities of the Russian invaders in the occupied Crimea, namely: radars, electronic warfare systems.<\/p>\n

In particular, the following were hit: the communication and power supply point of the Geran\/Gerbera UAV repeater; the Podlyot-K1 radar; the MR-231-3 Vaygach radar; the MR-231 air defense post, the Serval MSU, electronic warfare and electronic warfare equipment; the Baltika-B radar; the electronic warfare station and surveillance systems of the Russian Black Sea Fleet; and the electronic warfare laboratory on the roof of the headquarters building of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.<\/p>\n

But now, after the redeployment of air defense to Moscow, these problems have only intensified. In Russia, in fact, there has never been a full-fledged echeloned air defense system throughout the country – defense was built around individual important objects and regions.<\/p>\n

That is why it makes no sense for Ukraine to focus solely on a symbolic strike on Moscow on May 9. It is much more effective to use the situation for systemic strikes on Russia’s economic and fuel infrastructure.<\/p>\n

If, for example, instead of dropping three hundred drones on Moscow, where they will still try to intercept a significant part, they were to direct them at refineries, logistics hubs, and infrastructure, the effect for the occupying country would be much more painful. They themselves have now created a situation where, for the sake of the parade’s security, they have put their own economy at risk.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that even the Russian Federation’s preparations for May 9 are already creating serious problems for Moscow. Mass restrictions on mobile communications, increased security, and possible suspension of air traffic in major Russian cities are turning into a factor of economic pressure.<\/p>\n

Three days of actual communication restrictions for Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities are already colossal losses for the economy. If there are mass attacks on different regions, they will be forced to reintroduce the “carpet” regime, that is, close the airspace. And this is another serious blow to the Russian economy. It turns out that the occupiers themselves have become hostage to this sacred date.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Moscow’s threats of a “powerful response” in the event of Ukrainian strikes, I believe that the very logic of these threats demonstrates the Kremlin’s vulnerability.<\/p>\n

When the Russian side, namely the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, directly speaks about a “response” in the event of a strike on Moscow, a logical question arises: what will happen if the strikes are not on the capital, but, for example, on the Ryazan Refinery, which supplies Moscow with fuel? This once again shows how important the picture surrounding May 9 is for the Kremlin.<\/p>\n

I am convinced that regardless of whether Ukraine strikes on May 8-9, Russia will continue to attack Ukrainian territory. However, the problem now is not only the number of drones or missiles, but also the change in the tactics of Russian strikes.<\/p>\n

Recently, they have increasingly targeted residential infrastructure, gas stations, and facilities where they can provoke the maximum number of civilian casualties. This is no longer just pressure on energy or logistics \u2014 it is an attempt to create the greatest possible psychological effect through strikes on civilians.<\/p>\n

However, I am skeptical about statements about the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons by the enemy. In my opinion, such scenarios are now used more as an element of information pressure.<\/p>\n

Moscow understands perfectly well that even nuclear rhetoric itself provokes a negative reaction not only from the West, but also from China. And in the event of an actual use of tactical nuclear weapons, the US reaction could be very harsh even without the use of a nuclear response.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that the Ukrainian side created a “diplomatic fork” for the Russians with the very story of the truce until May 9.<\/p>\n

The President of Ukraine announced the introduction of a “silence regime” on May 4. It was supposed to begin at exactly 00:00 on May 6. However, the enemy did not react to this in any way, continuing hostilities and shelling of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Before that, on May 4, the Russian Defense Ministry unilaterally declared a “truce” for May 8-9, and in the event of a “disruption” of the May 9 parade in Moscow, it threatened to launch a massive missile strike on the center of Kyiv.<\/p>\n

By proposing a ceasefire as early as May 6, Ukraine was actually testing Russia’s readiness for a real pause in the war and checking the possibility of monitoring compliance with the agreements.<\/p>\n

The four-day ceasefire is no longer a symbolic pause, but an opportunity to check the verification mechanisms and the real readiness of the parties to end the war, but according to the Ukrainian scenario. But the occupying country itself violated this truce. And now Ukraine has both moral and political arguments to say: we proposed a ceasefire regime, Russia disrupted it.<\/p>\n

Let me remind you that Russia did not observe the ceasefire that it itself announced yesterday. As of seven in the morning, the enemy had fired more than 140 times on positions at the front and carried out 10 assaults.<\/p>\n

The occupiers also carried out more than 850 strikes with drones of various types: FPV, Lancets, and others, including strike drones. The Russians also continued to use reconnaissance drones in the skies over frontline communities.<\/p>\n

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Moscow is deploying additional air defense systems around the Russian capital and is more concerned with the May 9 parade than with real peace.<\/p>\n

Ukraine did not agree to Putin’s proposed “truce” for May 8-9. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia is not preparing for a real ceasefire, but is pulling air defenses towards Moscow.<\/p>\n

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\u2022 The owner of the webpage in the \u201cOPINIONS\u201d section is the author of the publication.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, May 8, the Ministry of Defense of the aggressor country stated that during the night, the air defense shot down 264 UAVs over 16 regions and water areas of the Azov and Black Seas. Moscow Mayor Sobyanin reported 25 drones shot down as of 6 a.m. After that, Rosaviatsia announced the introduction of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":971230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76893],"class_list":["post-1391200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1391200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/971230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1391200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1391200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}