EXPOSED: Tracking Russia's $275 BILLION financial catastrophe in Ukraine | Battle Plans

The tactical advantages for Ukraine are enormous.Putin is laying the legal groundwork to claim that territory now extends deep into Moldova.A peninsula in the south is looking very exposed.The battle for the Black Sea is escalating.And Ukraine's naval drones are leading the charge.The Russians think they could take the rest of the Donbass in a short period of time?

Not a hope in hell.

Vladimir Putin launches a fresh strike on Kiev with conventional, with hypersonic, and with ballistic missiles such as the Oreshnik.And NATO warns Russia it will cut off the enclave of Kaliningrad if Moscow steps over the line.There are critical updates from Ukraine.I'm Philip Ingram, and this is Battle Plans Exposed.The clock is ticking down to what could be the toughest phase of the war so far.Intelligence shows a sharp uptick in Ukrainian strikes targeting Russia's key supply lines.

Meanwhile, the key question for every soldier on the ground is this.Will Putin launch a new all -out offensive this summer?Today, we break down the defense of a strategic frontline village, and we reveal important updates from Moldova that threaten to drag a NATO country into the fight.Plus, we look at why Crimea is looking more vulnerable than ever.But before that, let's take a look at what's been going on on the front lines.So, we'll start with Russia's latest weapon, the RS -26, Rubezh Oreshnik, a ballistic missile that strikes at Mach 10 speeds.

This footage shows the scale of the strike on Bila Traverska area, just south of the capital Kiev, or what is reported by the Russians as a strike.I've got some questions over this footage.particular footage.I'll come on to it in a moment.But Ukrainian Air Force officials tracked the missile's flight path, confirming it was fired from a known test site.deeper inside Russian territory.

Military experts on the ground have mapped the impact points.The craters left behind are two meters wide, proving these are high -speed submunitions rather than typical drone strikes.But the data tells us an even bigger story.Most of these blocks missed their targets completely and fell into empty fields outside the town.But, when we're looking at this, the damage that we've got to what seem to be the garages and everything else, it's very difficult to tell what has caused that particular explosive damage.To me, it doesn't look like a ballistic missile strike.

The footage that we saw beforehand of different alleged submunitions coming out of the sky.Again, there was no explosion whenever they hit the ground.I therefore have to question whether those were submunitions coming down to explode or whether that was some other missile that had been intercepted by Ukrainian patriots and those were bits of it, of debris that were falling to the ground.What's really difficult in getting analysis from all of these different videos is getting the accuracy.And the analogy I'd use is if you're going out driving your car, think of going down the motorway where the only thing you can see through is a straw, a drinking straw, and work out whether that's giving you true situational awareness as to what's going on.

I suggest you're not going to last very long.When we see things just from one video, it's equally difficult to assess it.But that's what we're doing.that we're getting out of one and both sides on many cases.

But it's not always soldiers and civilians targeted by Russia.The white stork is a powerful living symbol of Ukraine, representing homeland security.peace.And Russian drone pilots apparently hate them so much, they will even waste weapons trying to kill one.But not today.The stork completely outmaneuvered the Russian drone, leaving the pilot with absolutely nothing.

Russia has lost a staggering $275 billion worth of military equipment so far in this war.And every single day, that total keeps going up.Ukraine's unmanned systems forces have just hammered a series of high -value targets across the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.They smashed an S -300V radar and fuel truck, a TOR air defence system, and a tractor near Berestovy, and an Uragran rocket launcher near Zalizhniy.The drones also wiped out a command post.and drone workshops, as well as a control point, and a port crane.

And this blitz alone has wiped out well over $150 million of equipment off Vladimir Putin's balance sheet.Now look at this, a targeted strike on the southern front.Ukrainian forces spot what appeared to be a simple compound, but intelligence revealed it was actually an underground Russian bunker.To crack a hardened position like this, you need serious firepower.So Ukraine sent in a MiG -29 fighter jet carrying precision -guided high explosives.There are the impacts, a double strike using the French -made Assam hammer bombs.

As an intelligence planner, I can tell you these are not normal bombs.They're fitted with smart guidance kits, allowing pilots to hit exact coordinates from miles away.This type of precision airstrike is vital.It allows Ukraine to take out deeply buried command centers without wasting dozens of missiles.

By destroying these hidden bunkers, Ukraine breaks the communication links that Russian forces rely on to coordinate their front line troops.

Next up, let's talk about Russia's vulnerable airspace.supply lines.These are the key logistical routes in occupied territories, specifically the Mariupol to Tangrog and Mariupol to Volnovashka highways.The drone operators of the 1st Corps of Ukraine's National Guard, known as Azov, have been conducting relentless strike missions here.As an intelligence planner, I can tell you exactly what you are seeing.This isn't just random destruction.

It is a targeted campaign to starve the Russian front line by hitting these moving targets on major motorways.Ukraine is cutting off fuel, ammunition, and vital supplies.If you want to stop a summer offensive, you don't just fight at the front, you choke the roads that lead to it.But it's more significant than that, because these are roads that are along the coast of the Sea of Azov, the land bridge from Russia to Crimea.

That means that the whole of the occupied territory, that bit that Russia has illegally occupied since its full -scale invasion, and before that, from 2014, are now vulnerable to control by Ukrainian drone pilots.That means nowhere is safe for the Russians to move at all.This is significant.And finally, let's look at a dramatic rescue mission from the front line.This footage shows a Ukrainian robotic evacuation vehicle which uses an armored capsule to save wounded soldiers from the battlefield.During this specific mission, the vehicle struck two mines on its way back from the position.

Any regular vehicle would have been torn apart, but the armored capsule did exactly what it was built to do.It shielded the wounded service person from the blast and shrapnel, allowing the mission to be completed successfully.The soldier was safely evacuated and has since been transferred for further medical treatment.

The drone covered a distance of nearly 23 miles, with the total mission taking 2 hours and 13 minutes.It kept a steady pace across the rough terrain, averaging 9 miles an hour, but reaching a top speed of 43 miles an hour to get that soldier out safely.This is something that in my time in the military we never had.It required military ambulances and armoured ambulances to go forward after immediate first aid was provided by your buddy.You had a buddy -buddy system.The same thing happens in Ukraine.

The buddy will give immediate first aid.They'll try and stabilise the casualty as close to the front line as possible.And then, instead of putting further Personnel at risk by getting an ambulance forward, they're using the unmanned ground vehicles as the ambulance.That is something that is significant and is a game -changer when it comes to providing continuous medical activity, no matter what the threat is on the run -up to the front line.This is saving lives.When Russia launched its full -scale invasion, the Kremlin expected a steamroll through Ukraine in a matter of days.

but they didn't count on a tiny, unknown village in the Zaporizhia region becoming the impenetrable fortress.Today, we're breaking down the unbelievable story of Malatok Machka.It is a shattered settlement that has withstood a relentless siege for 1 ,500 days.That is over four years of non -stop bombardment, mechanized assaults, and meat grinder tactics.

Yet against all odds, the Ukrainian line holds.Let's head to the map and uncover how a village of just 3 ,000 people broke the back of the Russian war machine.So the village is here.To understand the scale of this Russian disaster, we need to look at the battlefield.Malatok Machka sits right on the zero line in the Zaporizhia region.Before the war, it was a quiet agricultural town.

Today, it is a graveyard for Russian armor.Defending this position is Ukraine's legendary 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade.For 1 ,500 consecutive days, these soldiers have endured constant pressure.They have faced relentless artillery with thousands of shells raining down on their trenches every single week.There are constant drone swarms overhead from Russian FPV kamikaze drones, and endless columns of Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers sent directly into Ukrainian kill zones.Yet every single time Russian commanders send their troops forward, they're met with a wall of steel and fire.

The 118th Brigade hasn't just held the line.They've turned Malatok Machka into a strategic black hole that is swallowing Russia's most elite units whole.What makes this situation so embarrassing for the Kremlin is their desperate need to claim a victory here.The failure to capture Malatok Machka has become a massive informational nightmare for Moscow.In fact, the Russian military leadership has been lying to its own people about it.

Back in November 2025, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Bulasov officially announced that the village had been fully liberated.The Russian state media cheered.Pro -war bloggers celebrated.It was just one massive problem.It was a complete lie.Within days of the announcement, Russian sources were forced to admit that heavy fighting was magically still occurring in the liberated village.

In reality, Ukrainian forces had drawn the Russians into a devastating trap.As soon as the Russian armor pushed forward to claim their fake victory, they were obliterated by precision artillery and drone strikes.

Putin's forces are always throwing away countless lives just to desperately validate a propaganda victory that simply doesn't exist.The sheer scale of this defensive stand is actually making world history.To put 1 ,500 days of continuous combat into perspective, the defense of Malatok Machka has now officially lasted longer than some of the most famous sieges in human history.The siege of Carthage by the Romans lasted roughly 1 ,100 days.The siege of Leningrad during World War II lasted only 872 days.Because of this monumental feat, the 118th Brigade has just been officially entered into the National Register of Records of Ukraine for the military resilience and defense category.

But as the brigade commanders themselves stated, the certificate is just a piece of paper.Your true reward is every single meter of Ukrainian land you refuse to surrender.Malatochmachka was supposed to be a speed bump for the Russian army.Instead, it has become a 1 ,500 -day nightmare that exposed the weakness of Putin's military strategy.How long can Russia sustain these heavy losses for a single village?So Malatochmachka, are we seeing a theme here?

Just think of Bakhmut, just think of Pokrovsk and the numbers of days that are coming in.The Russians do not make it easy when they want to try and take a village.The Ukrainians seem to be giving fantastic defence for all of them.and yet the Russians think they can take the rest of the Donbass in a short period of time?Not a hope in hell.And the heavy losses aren't just in the Zaporizhia region.

A peninsula in the south is looking very exposed.Where am I talking about?Crimea.So, for part two, we're breaking down an assault on Crimea.

sending panic straight through the Kremlin and has been for months.Vladimir Putin has treated occupied Crimea as his untouchable fortress, a safe haven for his Black Sea fleet and a secure staging ground for his troops.But Ukraine has turned the tables.The entire Crimean coastline is turning into a permanent combat zone as Ukrainian naval drones bombard Russian positions along the shores.

Ukrainian forces are waging a sustained coastal harassment campaign.They're forcing Russian soldiers to live under constant threat of sudden strikes from the sea.Operating in the shallow coastal zones, Ukrainian special forces launched a coordinated swarm of uncrewed surface vessels.Russian forces sounded the alarm and released footage of one of these drones maneuvering near the beaches.But instead of serving only as kamikaze boats, these fast -moving vessels are packed with an entirely new payload.

The video shows a Ukrainian naval drone equipped with Shmel launchers for thermobaric rockets.And under the forward hatches, they're even carrying multiple FPV drones so that they can fly deeper inland.The drone skimmed the water at sea level, practically invisible to Russian radar.The vessels stealthily approach the shallow zone before unleashing salvos of thermobaric rockets directly into the trenches.Unlike conventional explosives, these thermobaric warheads consume oxygen.They create a destructive blast wave of suction capable of lethal internal injuries.

It kills soldiers hiding behind cover and inside trenches and in concrete fortifications.

especially along confined beaches where Russian troops are concentrated.This is now the most dangerous Ukrainian tactic in the campaign.

By transforming naval drones into mobile launch platforms for FPV drones, Kyiv is expanding.the attack indeed.They can launch the FPV drones close to the coast, bypassing Russia's layered frontline defences entirely.They can attack valuable targets like radar systems, logistic hubs and air defence sites from unexpected directions.And it happens at extremely short range before Russian electronic warfare systems can respond.

The tactical advantages for Ukraine are enormous.By carrying the tech out to sea, the drones spend far less time in the air.That reduces exposure to jamming and extends the overall strike range.At the same time, these FPV drones are cheaper than long -range drones, and Ukraine can launch coordinated saturation assaults that overwhelm Russian defences through sheer numbers.They infallibly inflict heavy losses with relatively cheap systems while avoiding risk to personnel.This constant sea bombardment exhausts Russian soldiers psychologically, forcing them to remain permanently alert.

Ukraine is trading a drone that costs a few thousand pounds to wipe millions off Putin's balance sheet.The strategic implications of this campaign are massive.It proves that there's no longer a safe rear for Russian forces anywhere in occupied Crimea.By systematically hunting down these coastal outposts, Ukraine is blinding the Russian military.The message from Kiev is clear.if you're a Russian soldier standing on the coast of Crimea, you're in the kill zone.

Moscow is now being forced to pull critical resources away from the front lines just to guard their own beaches.The battle for the Black Sea is escalating and Ukraine's naval drones are leading the charge.And I've just been speaking to someone who knows a lot about what is going on, having been an ambassador to Ukraine, an ambassador to NATO, Ambassador Kurt Volker from the United States.He's saying what we're saying in Crimea.at the moment is very interesting because what we're seeing are the Ukrainians softening up all of the Russian defences.We're seeing Ukraine interdicting the supply routes going from Moscow, the land bridge, into Crimea.

We've seen Ukraine interdict the Kirsh bridge and causing real disruption there.Crimea is increasingly vulnerable.And he says Ukraine may be in a position even to cause Crimea to be taken back before the disputed Donbass region.Only time will tell.As the brutal war in Ukraine grinds on, a chilling new flashpoint threatens to drag another European nation into the crosshairs of Vladimir Putin's war machine.The target, tiny, unrecognised breakaway state, frozen in the Soviet era.

The tactic, A creeping, silent annexation that is already underway.We're looking at Transnistria.Transnistria between Moldova and Ukraine.A breakaway province of Moldova.

And why a stroke of Putin's pen might just have lit the fuse for an explosive conflict right on Europe's doorstep.To understand this new development, we have to look at the map.

Wedged between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border lies Transnistria.Officially, international law recognises it as part of Moldova.But in reality, it's a rogue, pro -Russian separatist enclave that broke away during the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.Following a brief bloody war in 1992, Transnistria has essentially acted as a heavily armed Russian outpost.Walk the streets of its capital, Tiraspol, and you'll thinkyou've stepped back into the USSR.

But the real danger isn't the statues of Lenin.It's the roughly 1 ,500 Russian troops permanently stationed there.Officially, Moscow calls them peacekeepers, guarding the Khosanna ammunition depot, one of the largest Soviet -era weapons dumps in Eastern Europe.Tactically, however, they are a dagger pointed at the back of Ukraine and a loaded gun aimed at the pro -Western government in Moldova.For over 30 years, this has been a frozen conflict, but the ice is finally cracking.According to a bombshell new report, it highlights a sweeping new decree just signed by Vladimir Putin, which fast -tracks Russian citizenship for all residents of Transnistria.

Under the new order, any foreigner or stateless person over 18, permanently living in the enclave, can simply apply and receive a Russian passport.This isn't just a bureaucratic update, this is an annexation by passport.By declaring that all Transnistrians are effectively Russians, Putin is laying the legal groundwork to claim that territory now extends deep into Moldova.We saw the exact same passportisation tactic used to justify the illegal annexations of Crimea, Donetsk and Lushank.The Kremlin's logic is chillingly simple.Where there are Russian passports, there is Russia.

And Russia will use military force to protect its citizens.So what is the battle plan here?

Why pull this trigger now?Well, intelligence officials and leaders in both Moldova and Ukraine are sounding the alarm.There are two primary motives.

First, boots on the ground.With Russian casualties mounting in eastern Ukraine, Moscow's desperate for fresh manpower.By giving the 350 ,000 residents of Transnistria Russian citizenship, the Kremlin can now legally conscript them, forcing mobilisation, a brand new proxy army right on Ukrainian soil.flank.Second, political sabotage.Moldova has recently accelerated its push to join the European Union, cutting off Russian gas and economically isolating the separatist region.

By declaring Transnistria a de facto Russian province, Putin is trying to blackmail Moldova, threatening military intervention if Moldovan authorities try to legally reclaim their own land.The battle lines in Eastern Europe are shifting.Russia doesn't need to roll tanks across the border if it can just hand out passports and steal the land from within.The annexation of Transnistria isn't a future threat.It's happening right now.Will Ukraine and Moldova be forced into a pre -emptive strike?

Or will Putin successfully carve out another chunk of Europe?We have to see.But Moldova's playing a clever game.They have just banned anyone with a Russian passport from being able to get out of Transnistria through Moldova.And of course, anyone with a Russian passport is not going to want to get out from Transnistria through Ukraine.So it is becoming increasingly isolated.

And from a military planning perspective, Putin can't even take a village in 1 ,500 days in the Zaporizhia region of Ukraine.There is no way can he extend a military capability through Ukrainian -controlled seas into NATO -controlled airspace and Ukrainian -controlled airspace to try and carry out any form of military activity into Transnistria.So provided the Russian troops that are there can be kept pinned down and occupied, and they are being successfully by diplomatic means, then the threat is minimal.And of course, bordering on Moldova, we have the NATO countriesRomania and we've got NATO air policing based in Romania.Flight time over Moldova, will the Moldovans give NATO aircraft permission to overfly their territory?

Yes, because the Moldovans want to move closer to the EU.So we're talking of minutes.The Russians can't get there.There is no threat to Transnistria.That's all for today's Battle Plans Exposed.If you like what you've seen, please share it around your networks.

If you've got any ideas for what you want us to look at in the future, please put it in the comments below.And once again, thank you for watching.I'm Philip Ingram.Goodbye.