ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 9, 2026

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian and Ukrainian reporting appears to confirm battlefield reporting that Ukrainian forces have achieved a drone advantage over Russian forces on the battlefield. Ukraine’s drone advantage is likely contributing to the stalling of Russian advances and recent Ukrainian counterattacks.
• Ukrainian forces’ increasing strikes against Russian air defense systems and drone interception rates have facilitated recent Ukrainian battlefield successes.
• Unverified reporting suggests that the Kremlin privately acknowledges Ukraine’s upper hand in drone operations on the battlefield and defense industrial base (DIB) production.
• The Kremlin is deploying Russian military vessels to escort Russian sanctions-evading tankers through the English Channel.
• Russian forces continue to conduct covert submarine operations near British undersea fiber-optic cables and pipelines in the North Atlantic Ocean.
• Ukrainian forces used drones to destroy a Russian-controlled bridge in occupied Kherson Oblast, possibly for the first time in combat history.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Kupyansk direction.
• Russian forces launched 119 drones against Ukraine.

See the original here.