From January to March 2026, Russia fired 19,044 missiles and drones into Ukraine, according to a new report by the special inspector of Operation Atlantic Resolve for the US Congress (the report was prepared by the inspectors general of the Pentagon, the US State Department and the Agency for International Development). At the same time, Ukrainian air defense was able to significantly increase the effectiveness of intercepting air targets.

After the failure in Moldova and Hungary, the Kremlin threw all its resources at Armenia, where parliamentary elections will take place on June 7. The Kremlin hopes to prevent the Civil Contract party of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has set a course for rapprochement with the EU and the United States, from winning.

American artist Jackson Pollock's painting "Number 7A" (1948) was sold at Christie's in New York for a record $181.2 million - this is the fourth most expensive work in the history of auction trading, The Guardian reports . The previous price record for Pollock's works was $61.2 million and was set in 2021. The artist's work has sold privately for $200 million.

The prosecutor’s office in Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said it found no violations of the rights of the mathematician Azat Miftakhov, a political prisoner who earlier reported being tortured at the Polar Owl penal colony nearly 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Miftakhov’s support group said the finding came in a response to an appeal signed by Mikhail Mityayev, the prosecutor responsible for overseeing compliance with the law in correctional facilities in the district.

Two weeks later, Russian authorities were able to report the complete extinguishing of oil tanks in Tuapse, destroyed as a result of Ukrainian Armed Forces drone attacks in the port on April 16, 20 and 28. However, the consequences of this disaster will manifest themselves for a long time: oil got into the sea and onto the streets with residential buildings, the “oil rain” covered the entire city with soot, and local residents, who were not evacuated, continue to inhale carcinogenic substances.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin dismissed eight heads of district administrations in one order. The document is dated May 19, 2026 and published on the city hall website. The heads of the district administrations of Kryukovo (Andrey Zhuravlev), Krylatskoye (Ivan Lakhno), Northern Tushino (Evgeny Mamutov), ​​Arbat (Yuriy Nechaev), Savelovsky district (Igor Ovchinnikov), Northern Butovo (Alexei Prokudin), Kuzminok (Oleg Pundel) and Eastern Izmailov (Sergey Titov) lost their positions.

An interview with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys in the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung caused a strong reaction among Kremlin officials and the media. Channel One reported : “Another evidence of what Russophobic frenzy can lead to. A statement by the head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry that looks like either hysteria or insanity. In an interview with Swiss journalists, he actually called on NATO to start an open war with a nuclear power. Attack the Kaliningrad region.

A court in Novosibirsk included a project for transgender people and their loved ones, “T9 NSK,” into the register of “extremist” and banned the organization’s activities. She dealt with legal, psychological and social support for people.

The UK fined the London branch of Deutsche Bank 165 thousand pounds for two transfers made in 2022 in favor of the Russian online cinema Okko, which was owned by a sanctioned legal entity - New Opportunities JSC. This is stated in a message from the Financial Sanctions Office of the UK Treasury. Moreover, back in September 2022, the bank independently reported these payments to OFSI, as a result of which the agency reduced the fine, which initially amounted to 300 thousand pounds, by 45%.

The TikTok social network carried out a second wave of mass blocking of bloggers who advertised the Tatarstan college “Alabuga Polytech”. Blogger Alexey Gubanov drew attention to this: “At the same time, a whole bunch of TikTokers were blocked, now it’s even difficult to calculate the exact number, but there are quite a lot of them.

Kyrgyzstan’s Justice Ministry has suspended the operations of 50 legal entities found to have carried out transactions with a high sanctions risk. The move was unprecedented for the authorities in Bishkek, local outlet 24.kg reported. The measures were taken under an interagency order on cooperation to identify bad-faith participants in foreign economic activity.

The war against Ukraine has limited Russia's near-term ability to launch and sustain a large-scale war against NATO. This is stated in a new report for the US Congress prepared by the inspectors general of the Pentagon, the State Department and the Agency for International Development (what remained after the abolition of USAID).

Dmitry Oblomiy has headed the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Trans-Baikal Territory since 2022. Before that, he headed the department of the Federal Penitentiary Service for Tuva. In December 2023, Vladimir Putin awarded him the rank of major general of the internal service, and in the summer of 2025, the governor of Transbaikalia awarded him a diploma of honor for “strengthening law and order” and interaction with the Ministry of Defense.

Catalan police have arrested Jonathan Andik on suspicion of murdering his father, the founder and owner of the clothing company Mango, Isak Andik. According to El Pais, the son of the late businessman had previously become a suspect in a case that was classified. It is clarified that Jonathan was arrested to be taken to Barcelona, ​​where the judge will interrogate him as a suspect.

About 7.5% of those employed in the Russian economy risk losing their positions in the near future due to the spread of AI technologies. This conclusion was reached by analysts of the All-Russian Research Institute of Labor, subordinate to the Ministry of Labor, whose research was cited by Kommersant. It is based on a survey of several thousand Russian companies implementing AI, and was presented on May 18 at a round table in the Federation Council.