Russian forces carried out a massive strike against Ukraine with 546 drones and missiles, including 14 ballistic missiles, on the night of May 17-18.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces launched 14 Iskander-M ballistic missiles/S-400 air defense missiles from Rostov Oblast and occupied Crimea; eight Iskander-K cruise missiles from occupied Crimea; and 524 Shahed, Gerbera, and Italmas attack drones and Parody decoy drones. from the directions of the cities of Bryansk, Kursk and Orel; Millerovo, Rostov region; Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar region; the occupied city of Donetsk; and the occupied Gvardeyskoe, Crimea, according to data from the "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW).
Ukrainian forces shot down four "Iskander-K" cruise missiles and 503 drones, 18 missiles and 16 drones hit 34 sites, and downed debris fell on 11 sites as of 08:30 local time. The Ukrainian Air Force noted that the strikes were mainly aimed at the city of Dnipro and the Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian strikes had caused significant damage to civilian infrastructure, as well as energy and housing infrastructure.
Ukrainian authorities said Russian forces had struck the city of Odessa, including a Chinese-owned ship approaching the port.
Russian forces also struck civilian and housing infrastructure in Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kirovograd, Kherson, Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, injuring at least 33 civilians, including three children.
In recent weeks, Russia has been firing a higher number of ballistic missiles than usual, likely to take advantage of limitations in Ukrainian air defenses amid a global shortage of Patriot interceptors.
The Russian economy continues to feel the strain of the cumulative effects of more than four years of war, combined with Ukraine's campaign of long-term strikes against Russian oil infrastructure. Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said in an interview with Russian outlet RBK on May 18 that several factors have prompted the Russian government to revise its GDP growth expectations over the coming three-year period, including a labor shortage and "external conditions" such as ongoing sanctions against Russia and the war in the Middle East.
Russia does not expect inflation to accelerate as the economy grows, ignoring how labor shortages fuel inflation.
Reshetnikov also failed to acknowledge how Russia's long-standing military recruitment efforts have pushed many people out of the civilian labor market and worsened the labor shortage. Russia is likely to continue to suffer from a worsening labor shortage as it prioritizes replacing its battlefield losses with new recruits over supporting and growing its domestic economy.
Ukraine's long-term strike campaign against Russian oil infrastructure continues to exacerbate Russia's liquidity problems related to unsustainable wartime spending.
Zelensky said on May 18 that Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service had obtained Russian documents estimating that Russia had had to significantly reduce its active oil wells, with one unspecified Russian oil company alone shutting down 400 wells.
Zelensky said that Russia had cut oil refining by at least 10 percent so far in 2026 and that Russia was struggling to restart wells compared to other oil-producing countries. Zelensky said that SVR data showed that 11 Russian financial institutions were preparing for liquidation and that another eight banking institutions could not internally resolve their accumulated problems and had to attract external resources. Zelensky noted that Russia's federal budget deficit was already almost $80 billion in the first five months of 2026. Russia is increasingly struggling with liquidity problems after steadily depleting its sovereign wealth fund's liquid reserves to finance the war and resorting to selling its physical gold reserves.
The Kremlin has introduced economically suboptimal policies, such as an increase in the value-added tax (VAT) in January 2026, which is already having cascading effects on the Russian economy, increasing the size of Russia's shadow economy and thus increasing the cost of goods and services without generating the desired tax revenues.
Ukrainian forces have significantly increased the frequency, scope, and intensity of strikes against Russian oil infrastructure since March 2026, which has had a huge impact on Russian oil exports and refining capacity, undermining Russia's ability to benefit from increased surges in global oil prices.