At a meeting on May 15, Putin cited rising trade indicators and claimed Russia’s GDP grew by 1.8% in March. He did not mention that GDP fell in January and February 2026, or that the government had cut its 2026 annual growth forecast from 1.

The Russian leader addressed the potential for talks with the European Union after rounds of U.S.-led peace talks that have so far failed to end the conflict.

Tensions are high as Russia prepares to celebrate its most important secular holiday Saturday. Fears in Moscow about security amid the war with Ukraine have forced officials to scale back the annual celebrations, and signs of domestic discontent are casting a shadow over President Vladimir Putin’s Red Square events.

Russia tested a new long-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, months after the last treaty with the U.S. expired.

The Russian leader is walking a tightrope: acknowledging public discontent while offering no indication that he might give up on his demands.

Some well-known analysts and journalists have detected a subtle change in the mood toward Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine, now well into its fifth year. There is a sense in Russian society, they write,

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired at least 800 drones in a massive daytime barrage on about 20 regions of Ukraine on Wednesday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, including children, in one of the longest attacks by Moscow in the 4-year-old war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.